Jane Fowler

Lens Replacement Surgery

Imagine waking up after more than fifty years of poor eyesight, reaching for your glasses and then smiling as you remember you don’t need them anymore.

That is the reality for Jane Fowler, 58, a retired complimentary therapist, who recently underwent an “incredible” procedure to correct her poor eyesight. Jane was first diagnosed as being short sighted when she was just five-years-old and the school nurse noticed she had difficulty seeing. It was a diagnosis which left Jane, from Dogdyke, near Lincoln, resigned to a lifetime of wearing glasses.

“It was awful wearing glasses when I was at school because the lenses were so thick and the frames were bright plastic,” she said. It’s true what they say about boys not making passes at girls who wear glasses! I always felt insecure wearing them and even when I got older and was able to afford better frames, they still interfered with my life.”

Jane, who is married and has one daughter, was always uncomfortable swimming because she had to wear her glasses to see and was afraid of playing ball games for fear her frames would get damaged. She tried contact lenses, which were successful at first, but later developed an allergy to them and decided glasses were her only option.

“I realised I was going to have to wear glasses for the rest of my life,” she explained. “The prescription I needed meant my glasses cost between £400 and £500, and that was without any designer frames. “I had to have two pairs at all times in case something happened to my main pair. Without them I was in a world of fog. They were the first thing I reached for every morning because I just couldn’t see without them.”

It wasn’t until Jane began suffering from neck problems and read an article linking glasses to spinal complaints that she began researching other options. She said: “I found that my glasses were always slipping down my nose and I was constantly lifting my head back to compensate, especially when I was driving. “The article I read really hit home because I realised something as simple as wearing glasses could be causing the pain I was in.”

Jane visited the Vision Surgery & Research Centre, in Hull, for an initial free consultation and discovered she had two options – laser eye correction or lens replacement surgery. This was followed by a comprehensive assessment with Mr Milind Pande, who heads the centre and is a leading worldwide expert in vision correction surgery.

Jane was told she had developed the beginnings of cataracts and that laser surgery was not the best option. She said: “Mr Pande was fantastic and explained in detail what my options were without pressuring me to make a decision. I actually went away for a few months to think about it because I was apprehensive about having surgery.”

Jane decided to go ahead with Lens Replacement Surgery, a procedure appropriate for patients aged 50 or over who need bifocal, varifocal or reading glasses. The natural lens of the eye deteriorates with age, leaving us needing reading glasses by the time we are 50 and having cataracts in our sixties. Lens Replacement Surgery replaces this deteriorating natural lens with a brand new one. Everyone will need a cataract operation at some stage in life but you will never need a cataract operation after lens exchange surgery.

“I remember lying in the bath the day after surgery and realising I could read the hot and cold taps for the first time in my life,” Jane said. “It was like the fog had been lifted. The lenses were tailored to suit my lifestyle so they are perfect for everything I enjoy doing, like sewing and reading.”

If you are thinking of having vision correction surgery, you need to make sure you choose the best option for your circumstances. Many patients are not suitable and there are effective and safe alternatives which may be a better option. Only a specialist vision correction centre like Vision Surgery can provide you with these options.