Optimax chairman has lens surgery

Clinic’s first laser eye surgery patient returns for refractive lens exchange treatment

2 min read

26 May 2015

Optimax chairman Russell Ambrose became the clinic’s first laser eye surgery patient in 1991 and has had lens surgery to improve his vision 24 years later.

Mr Ambrose explained: “Having reached the age of 65, I had become long-sighted, and didn’t want to start wearing spectacles again, so I had no hesitation in booking myself in for lens surgery with our medical director, Amir Hamid.”

Dr Amir Hamid, who operates at Optimax Maidstone, said: “The laser surgery gave Russell a fantastic result and the freedom from glasses that he desired. More recently, he had begun to experience difficulty reading and poorer distance vision. My recommendation was that he should have his own natural lens replaced with an artificial one in a procedure called Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE).

“RLE treatment has the benefit of being precise and also potentially definitive as patients will not develop cataracts in the future and should not require any further surgery at a later stage. Within a few days, Russell had achieved driving standard vision.”

Mr Ambrose added: “The surgery was painless and was completed in a few minutes. It’s been a revelation to experience the professionalism and skill of my staff personally. I can now see perfectly and I am very grateful to Mr Hamid and the team.”

Optimax was one of the UK’s first private clinics to offer laser eye surgery and currently has 28 clinics across the UK.