Optical Express, the leading provider of laser eye surgery in Europe, with 60 clinics in the UK, Europe and the US, has announced that they will open three new locations in Ireland in Cork, Dublin and Galway in the next 12 months. With an additional investment of and €10 million, this will bring the number of Irish operations to six creating up to 60 new jobs.
Optical Express currently operates out of Wellington Road in Dublin, Whitewater Shopping Centre in Kildare and Mahon Point in Cork.
Dr. Steve Schallhorn, Chief Medical Director at Optical Express and internationally acknowledged as one of the most respected refractive surgeons in the world has travelled to Ireland to make the announcement. “As UK and Europe’s number one provider of laser eye surgery, our and €10 million investment in Ireland offers increased convenience for patients booking surgery and for their pre and post operative appointments. The new surgery treatment centres will have on-site ophthalmic surgeons, refractive trained optometrists and patient counsellors who are dedicated to providing the highest levels of clinical care in our state-of-the-art facilities”.
“The VISX and Intralase laser technology available in every Optical Express clinic is the same technology used by NASA on their astronauts as it is the safest, most advanced laser technology in the industry. We have committed to this significant investment in Ireland to ensure we continue to deliver exceptional quality of clinical outcomes and customer service experience for all patients”.
Dr Steve Schallhorn is a former TOP GUN (advising the screenwriter for Top Gun the movie) and US Navy Captain who served in the US military for 30 years where he was Director of Cornea Service and Refractive Surgery at the Naval Medical Center San Diego. He was also the Refractive Surgery Program Manager for the US Navy and currently serves as a consultant to NASA and the FBI and is an advisor for refractive surgery to over ten countries worldwide.
Hibernian Health has recently announced Optical Express as their exclusive provider of laser eye surgery in Ireland. Hibernian Health members can claim back 30% off their total cost as soon as treatment has been completed.
The treatment includes the initial consultation, the laser eye surgery procedure, post procedure review, unlimited aftercare and access to 24 hour medical helpline post surgery. Commenting on the partnership, Deirdre Ashe, Marketing Director of Hibernian Health said, “From continually engaging with our customers, we know that laser eye surgery is a valuable and important benefit to our customers.
In the last year alone Hibernian Health paid out up to and €800,000 on up to 800 claims. As the only health insurer to offer this benefit to our customers as part of their plan and with our new exclusive partnership in Optical Express, we predict uptake on this benefit to increase significantly in the future”.
Optical Express carry out more laser procedures every week than any other provider in Europe and their specialist surgeons have now performed more then 1 million treatments worldwide. As well as their 60 treatment clinics, Optical Express also have over 100 laser consultation clinics where patients can receive their pre and post operative care.
Laser eye surgery is a safe, affordable and more convenient alternative to glasses and contact lenses and is an option that is becoming more and more popular. Since laser eye surgery was first performed over 20 million treatments have been performed worldwide. It is currently the most commonly performed elective surgery procedure in the world today.
