[Posted by Jud99]
I have a pre surgery discussion with David Teenan in Glasgow booked for 19 December and the surgery for NLR Multifocal (both eyes) booked on 28 December. I have only paid the £500 deposit at this moment in time. I had been noticing recent difficulties seeing clearly in my right eye lately.
I am 55 and I have worn glasses since I was 13 and have severe myopia and astigmatism and a few years ago I found I needed reading glasses as well.
I went to Specsavers in early November as I thought my multifocal glasses were not right. I was seeing everything mainly in the distance part of the lens as slightly blurry and after testing and examination they told me I had early cataracts in both eyes, the right eye being worse. They also said that cataracts can make myopia worse, hence the reason why my distance vision was not so clear. They said at some point in the future I would have to have surgery, but glasses would do just fine for the present.
I came out of Specsavers and immediately began researching online to see if there was laser or another kind of treatment that could deal with all of this. The Optical Express website made it all sound so wonderfully easy, and with the inevitability of lens surgery at some point I went along to my free consultation at OE, who conducted tests and confirmed, yes, I did indeed have cataracts and they had this amazing solution which would be multifocal lenses.
My cataracts would be gone, my distance, intermediate and near vision would be good enough never to need glasses again: indeed, "freedom from spectacles" was the reason they put down on one of their many forms - which I did think was kind of secondary to cataract removal in my case, but I didn't mention this at the time as I was on a high, thinking about this miracle treatment.
This would be performed by their very own experienced surgeon Dr David Teenan who they said was wonderful. They mentioned very briefly about risks and complications such as Halos, but they said this was rare and most people got used to them.
They said multifocals were not at all like the MF glasses - with the implants you "saw" two images and had to "choose the correct one", but not to worry as my brain would soon adapt.
I was a bit concerned with this but they presented it as a piece of cake! So I paid my £500 deposit and went home with my surgery date and pre surgery consult all booked, although I still owed them the small sum of £7990!
Since then I've been doing quite a lot of research, mainly to prepare my questions for Dr Teenan, but the more I looked at Multifocals Lens replacement, the more I began to have my doubts. I just can't get my head round how you actually SEE with them and then there's all the night and low light phenomena, not to mention the list of risks and complications.
I have lost confidence in multifocals and was even considering just getting toric monos and then buying reading glasses. I felt that I could mangage just fine with reading glasses if my distance vision was clear, but I don't even trust OE to do that now and as my cataracts are still relitavely small, I can just get a set of new variofocal glasses for the moment and consider toric mono lenses when things get worse - but I don't think I'll go with Optical Express.
Maybe I'm just running scared, but the more I read (especilally on this forum) the more I think that surgery could either be a great success or a terrible failure and I'm just not willing to risk my sight. I was going to attend the pre surgery discussion on 19th Dec and then decide, but I would be interested to know what other people think?
I have couple of questions: What is the phone number for the cancellation department and should I push to get my deposit back? According to their T&C's I've now read online I'm out of time for the full amount to be refunded and I will only get £150, but it's a lot of money for me and maybe someone here can help/advice please?
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admin: To cancel surgery, call 0800 0232020 - but because Optical Express cancellation department is allegedly understaffed, and they frequently claim that the system is down, you should email Clinical Services Director Stephen Hannan - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - he'll make sure it goes to the correct dept.
Be prepared then for a phone call pushing you to change your mind, offering to hold on to your money in case you do so, or suggesting you accept vouchers to spend in store. Ask for email confirmation of your cancellion - which they will often try to refuse!
Email me for advice on how to get your FULL deposit refunded - because no matter whst they claim, OE are not legally entitled to keep ANY of it 
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.