Leicestershire lady enjoying a life free of glasses following lens replacement surgery

For Missy Luntley, from Burbage, glasses have been a daily hassle for the past decade.

From the ‘sea-sick’ feeling of varifocals to the pain of glasses sitting on her nose, to the way they made her feel older than her years, she was eager to see clearly without them.

She explains: “It all happened suddenly – I had never had any problems with my eyes, then I started needing reading glasses as I turned 40. Then before I knew it, I was in varifocals and had to wear them all the time. I felt so old in them!”

Missy had tried contact lenses but struggled putting them in and taking them off.  She even ending up in A&E at one point as she had damaged her eye trying to remove a lens which she thought was stuck.

Enough was enough and she went to Optegra Eye Hospital Birmingham, following a personal recommendation, where she found out she was suitable for a procedure called lens replacement.

A sophisticated version of cataract surgery, the natural lens of the eye – which hardens with age, causing difficulty to focus at various distances – is removed and replaced with an artificial Intra Ocular Lens (IOL) which is tailored to the individual patient’s needs.

Mr Mark Wevill, eye surgeon at Optegra Birmingham, said: “Missy had been keen to be free of glasses for some time but just wanted clear medical opinion on what her options were. We were able to deliver just that – a thorough examination of her eyes showed she had a strong prescription of around +4 in each eye, which we could treat with this excellent procedure.  Now she is glasses free and can even relax knowing she will never get a cataract with this new lens.”

Missy, 52, who was a nurse for over 20 years, now cares full time for her disabled daughter and is part time self-employed.  Her relaxation comes in visits to her local gym and sauna, which she can enjoy so much more since her eye operation.

She says: “I could not see anyone in the sauna, and swimming was just about impossible as I had to just wave and say hello to everyone because I could not see their features! Even yoga was hard as I would often be upside down and so my varifocals would slip down and then I’d be looking through the wrong part of the lens and feel all out of sync – a really disorientating feeling.  Now I can see so clearly, it is so much more enjoyable.

“I do not miss not being able to put make-up on as I could not see my eyes well enough, I do not miss not being able to see clearly when I check my daughter as night. Now I can read her medication boxes clearly, and even can tell in the nighttime if she is a little pale.  It is wonderful being able to do all these things without thinking about it!”

Optegra Eye Health Care, whose hospitals include Hampshire and Central London, is a specialist provider of ophthalmic services in the UK, Czech Republic and Poland. It operates 21 eye hospitals and clinics, bringing together leading edge research, medical expertise and state-of-the-art surgical equipment.  Its top ophthalmic surgeons are renowned for their areas of expertise, offering excellent clinical outcomes.