physics

Optical Express

Optical Express is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Optical Express rather than just read about it. In short: Optical Express is a provider of ophthalmology services including laser eye surgery, cataract surgery and lens replacement surgery in Europe. Optical Express is a trading name of DCM (Optical Holdings) Limited which operates as the Optical Express Group.

Key takeaways

Optical Express belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Optical Express to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Optical Express from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Optical Express is a provider of ophthalmology services including laser eye surgery, cataract surgery and lens replacement surgery in Europe. Optical Express is a trading name of DCM (Optical Holdings) Limited which operates as the Optical Express Group. In 2013 the company was described by the Competition Commission as the market leader in refractive surgery. As a chain of retail opticians, offering a number of healthcare services, the company once operated a private hospital in Manchester. This closed on 4 June 2015.

Financial history Accounts filed at Companies House for the calendar year 2011 reported a loss of £1.5 million, the previous year the company made a profit of nearly £6.9million. In November 2012, Optical Express closed a subsidiary with 83 stores placed into administration and 40 store closures. In December 2012, Optical Express said it would open 40 new sites as laser consultation/treatment centres in 2013, which it later went on to do. Landlords expressed dismay that this closure happened two days after quarterly rents were due. Optical Express said it was consolidating its retail portfolio to "focus resources on its flagship locations and online business". 1 October 2013: Accounts filed at Companies House show DCM (Optical Holdings) recorded a pre-tax loss of £15.1m in the 12 months to 29 December 2012, wider than the £1.5m loss in the prior year. Founder David Moulsdale unveiled the intention to appoint an administrator for DCM Optical Clinic and then buy back 16 of the 19 stores. Accounts filed for 27 December 2014 show a total revenue of £134m and an operating profit of £13m. In December 2017 Optical Express recorded a turnover of £101.9 million. In December 2019, the company recorded a turnover of £117.1 million and in 2020 recorded a turnover of £99.1 million with an operating profit of £20.8 million. 2021 saw Optical Express record a turnover of £157.4 million during the year, pre-tax profits rose to £52.1m against £20.8m in the prior year.

Operations

The Optical Express group of companies formerly operated in a range of healthcare services including the optical and cosmetic industries under the brand names Optical Express, The Dental Clinic, The Cosmetic Clinic and Bridgewater Hospital. The company now focuses on refractive treatments and is the largest private provider in the UK and Ireland. In late 2022 the Optical Express clinics in Glasgow, Dundee and Inverness were each rated “Exceptional” following inspections by HIS (Healthcare Improvement Scotland). In November 2022 the Birmingham Clinic received an “outstanding” rating from the CQC (Care Quality Commission). In January 2023 the Optical Express clinic in Aberdeen was also rated “exceptional” by HIS. The group was founded in 1991 by David Moulsdale with one Optical Express branch based in Leith, Edinburgh. The company grew steadily following its establishment, acquiring the 11 stores of Remocker Shapiro in 1995, and the 65 stores of Specialeyes PLC in 1997. These were followed in 2001 by 34 stores from Co-op Eyecare, and 14 more Scottish stores from Specdeals in 2002. Optical Express entered the refractive eye surgery market in 2002 when it acquired The Health Clinic which offered general ophthalmic procedures across slightly less than 20 locations in the UK. In 2004 it acquired the ophthalmic treatment assets of Boots Group plc from nine sites in the UK. As a result of the acquisitions, the 700 employees were transferred to Optical Express bringing the total number of employees to 2,300 for Optical Express. The company did not acquire Boots' other optician assets. In 2004, Optical Express acquired two Free Vision Euro Eyes laser vision correction clinics in Amsterdam and The Hague, marking the first large-scale UK optical chain to extend its laser vision correction business in the Netherlands. Optical Express acquired the dentistry and laser eye surgery services of Alliance Boots in 2005, trading under the name 'The Dental Clinic'. These assets were sold in 2013. November 2013: A Competition Commission report into the merger of two rival companies reported that Optical Express share of the laser eye surgery market was nearly twice the size, and in intraocular lens surgery six times as big as both Optimax and Ultralase combined, the report concluded that the merger of Optimax and Ultralase would not lessen competition in the market. April 2014: A complaint by the company that rival Optimax had funded a protest website owned by My Beautiful Eyes Foundation campaigner Sasha Rodoy was dismissed by Nominet. January 2015: The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced they were investigating claims that an artificial lens (MPlus X manufactured by Oculentis) implanted into the eyes of thousands of patients had caused serious problems with distance vision. Oculentis released a statement refuting allegations made in articles in the UK media about the lens causing severe vision loss, citing "significant factual innaccuracies" in the articles, claiming them to be "untrue" and "highly defamatory". As of September 2016, no official inquiry into the lens has been launched in the UK. January 2015: following an article in the Observer newspaper and The Guardian online, the Daily Mail published an article claiming that blindness could result from lens implant surgery. The company provides home eye tests for patients with complex disabilities and low vision across most of Scotland. Currently the largest provider of laser eye surgery, lens replacement surgery and private cataract surgery in the UK, Optical Express continues to open new clinics and treatment centres including in Edinburgh and Belfast in 2022 with more planned throughout 2023 and beyond.

Advertising In 2007, the Advertising Standards Authority rejected a complaint that the claim "from only £395 per eye" featured in an Optical Express TV and leaflet campaign was misleading, and in 2011, the authority upheld a complaint about television advert featuring Pádraig Harrington, which was later replaced by one featuring the voice of Michael Gambon. In 2011 the Advertising Standards Authority upheld 17 complaints about brochures. In 2012 another TV advert was removed due to misleading content. and a complaint was partially upheld against the Optical Express website. In January 2015 the Information Commissioners Office sent Optical Express an enforcement notice following 4,600 complaints regarding unsolicited messages

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Optical Express

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Optical Express claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Optical Express before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Optical Express ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Optical Express

In research: Optical Express appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Optical Express in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Optical Express is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics British companies established in 1991, British organisations established in 1991, Companies based in Glasgow, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Optical Express outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Optical Express in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Optical Express means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Optical Express out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Optical Express in simple terms?

Why does Optical Express matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Optical Express?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Optical Express.