Forced to give up both swimming and kickboxing due to her glasses, Hannah was eager to find an alternative vision correction solution that was more suitable to her active lifestyle. When the global coronavirus pandemic also brought the added frustration of steamed-up glasses, she felt that it was time to make the switch to contact lenses.

“I like going to the gym and I like going swimming and things like that. Because I couldn’t really see properly without my glasses, I had to stop all of it. I got really fed up wearing glasses because of the mask situation as well, that pushed me over the edge.”

Quickly realising that her astigmatism prevented her from wearing contact lenses, however, she started looking into the possibility of opting for laser eye surgery. Fascinated by the ability to enhance her treatment with iDesign, as well as being recommended to Optical Express by a friend who had previously received life-changing surgery, Hannah decided that she didn’t want to wait any longer and booked her consultation with us. “I know somebody who had it done with Optical Express, and they recommended yourselves because of the iDesign, as you are the only ones who offer it. It’s just so much more accurate, they measure so many more points in your eyes,” she explains.

While her family were slightly apprehensive on the day of surgery, Hannah was excited to have the procedure and didn’t feel any nerves. With staff members and her surgeon taking the time to guide her through the process and answer all her questions, she was glad to find that she felt completely comfortable throughout the procedure: “Everyone made me feel really at ease. They were talking to me about my job and making me feel relaxed. If someone has got a really nice manner about them, like everybody does here, it makes you feel like it’s just another day at the office. My surgeon was really good. He put me at ease and answered every single one of my questions.”

The day after surgery, Hannah was surprised to find that she had already achieved better visual acuity than she previously had with her glasses. “Me and my sister were doing tests on number plates on the way here, and I was like ‘Oh my god, I can see!’ It was crazy because I could see better than what I did with my glasses,” she says. Besides looking forward to picking up her active lifestyle again, she is also excited at the prospect of being able to finally show off her eye make-up, commenting: “I love doing eye make-up, having lashes on, and getting my eyebrows done and things like that. It just seemed a waste with my glasses on because you couldn’t see it.”

When asked if she would recommend Optical Express to friends and family, Hannah didn’t hesitate: “I would really recommend Optical Express. They have been so helpful, every time I had a question I would just call them and they would answer it so quickly. They have made me feel so at ease every step of the way; the pre-consultation, online, the call with my optometrist, and then obviously yesterday with my surgery. I feel confident and really happy with myself.”