Katie, an Aircraft Engineer from Pontypridd, decided to opt for laser eye surgery at Optical Express after putting up with poor vision for years. Suffering from short-sightedness, she found that she often struggled to read part numbers and serial numbers at work, but that wearing her glasses would result in headaches. Eager to ditch outdated vision correction solutions and experience real visual freedom, she booked in for treatment at our clinic in Cardiff.

Not only did poor vision impact her work, but Katie also noticed that it was affecting her everyday life. Fond of going to gigs with her friends, but feeling uncomfortable wearing her glasses outside of the house, she would often end up not being able to see the stage. “We go to gigs quite often and I would obviously get ready to go out and I wouldn’t want to wear my glasses, because I personally felt better without them, so I would go without and I just felt like I couldn’t see the stage very well. So yeah, I was going to gigs and I didn’t even know who was on the stage if I’m honest,” she explains.

While Katie felt excited in the run-up to her appointment, she noticed that the nerves started to kick in as soon as she arrived for treatment. She was glad to find that the team at our Cardiff clinic helped make her feel at ease throughout the entire process, as they even held her hand during surgery: “Everyone was so lovely and they kept asking “Oh, how are you feeling, how are you doing?” and I was honest you know, I said “I’m feeling nervous”, and I couldn’t have asked for more from them, everyone who works here, they really did go above and beyond,” she says.

The morning after her surgery, Katie was surprised to find that her vision was already clearer than it had ever been with her glasses on. “Even when I wore glasses, it was better this morning than I’ve ever seen with the glasses. I just felt like I could see everything,” she comments. Delighted with her new-found visual freedom, she can’t wait to get back to enjoying life without her glasses holding her back: “I can’t wait to go to a gig and just see everything, and holidays as well, go sightseeing and actually see the sights.”

Katie wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Optical Express to friends and family, commenting: “I couldn’t have asked for better care, everyone has been so lovely, the procedure was so quick and I’m so grateful for all the staff here who just made me feel comfortable when, if I’m honest, I was feeling a bit nervous.”

“Everyone just keeps asking me “How do you feel?” and I’m like “I feel amazing”. It really does change your life if I’m honest. I honestly don’t think you can put a price on that, I don’t think you can limit yourself for that. If you can go for it, go for it,” she concludes.