Relying on glasses to correct both her near and distance vision, Doreen grew increasingly worried when she started experiencing a further loss of vision in recent years. As her eyesight had become misty and blurry, she found herself struggling with everyday tasks such as reading and writing.

Deciding to make an appointment with her optician, she learned that she had cataracts developing in her left eye and was referred to the hospital for treatment.

“I could see but everything was so misty. I couldn’t write properly and I couldn’t see small writing. I couldn’t even read a recipe,” she says. Finding that waiting times for cataract treatment through the NHS had increased considerably due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with patients forced to wait months and sometimes years for surgery, Doreen decided that she wasn’t prepared to put herself and her eyesight at risk by waiting that long: “They said I was to go to a hospital, but because of the coronavirus I thought, ‘I can’t wait for that’. So, I was recommended to come here.”

Booking in for treatment at our Chelmsford clinic, Doreen has been continuously impressed with the care and service she received from the team and her surgeon, Dr Kazakos. “Brilliant, you couldn’t wish for better really. They’ve been so helpful. Dr Kazakos is a wonderful person, very good. He treated me well and that’s the main thing, it was very good,” she comments.

Enjoying clearer and brighter vision within less than 24 hours after surgery, Doreen is over the moon with her results. Relieved to know that she won’t have to suffer from misty and blurry eyesight any longer, she is looking forward to enjoying the little things in life again: “My daughter said, ‘Sunday we’re going to the nursery’. And I know that when I go to a nursery all the colours are going to be so bright. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Ecstatic with her restored vision, she wouldn’t hesitate to recommend lens replacement surgery to friends and family. “They’ve been absolutely amazing. You look around and you think, ‘Well, I didn’t see that’ and ‘I didn’t see this’, but I see it now and it’s so bright. I really don’t know what to say. I feel like a different person,” she says.