Fifty new jobs will be created in Belfast following the opening of a new eye clinic later this month.

Optilase and sister company Therapie Clinic are to open a new outlet at Cleaver House in Donegall Square on July 28.

Tracy Gilligan, managing director of Optilase, said: "In total we have invested more than £5million in the most advanced technology and infrastructure available, including talented new surgeons and personnel.

"We look forward to developing the business further in Northern Ireland."

Optilase is an independent laser eye clinic which has branches in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Londonderry and now Belfast.

Therapie offers laser hair removal and skin treatments. Cleaver House will be the twelfth Therapie clinic to open in Northern Ireland and the second in Belfast, with a branch already operating in the city's Queen's Arcade.

The group has opened four clinics so far this year and also expects to create another 100 jobs across Ireland by the middle of next year, with two more Optilase clinic due to open within the next nine months.

Laser eye surgery was first introduced in the 1970s and is now one of the most popular elective surgeries worldwide, with over 30 million people having opted for the sight-correcting procedure.