Working as a Firefighter for six years, Owen was an avid contact lenses wearer due to the nature of his job. 

Working with many hazardous chemicals and contaminants, Owen didn’t feel comfortable wearing contact lenses, as he couldn’t touch his face but this is something he has had to suffer through due to the nature of his job.

Wearing contact lenses for long shifts, Owen said that “they’re quite uncomfortable to wear” and it is not recommended to wear contact lenses for long periods as it can cause eye infections and overall deterioration of your eye health.

Owen wanted to have laser eye surgery due to the fact that he could potentially be putting his eye health at risk everyday due to having to wear contact lenses in toxic and dangerous environments. Commenting that it’s “not really ideal for the job”.  

Owen was one of Optical Express’s successful applications to receive free laser eye surgery as part of our Thanks a Million campaign. This campaign aims to thank our NHS and Emergency Service Workers for the hard work they do each and every day by giving another £1 million worth of free laser eye surgery.

After speaking with a colleague who had laser eye surgery a few years ago and encouraged Owen to “go for it” stating that he himself had “wished he had done it years ago.”

Owen had LASIK iDesign surgery in our Exeter Clinic and said that his “experience has been absolutely fantastic”. Speaking to us 24 hours after his surgery Owen was delighted to find out that he has better than 20/20 vision and stated that his new found visual freedom “should make me a better firefighter”.

Stating that the laser eye surgery “will just improve every aspect of my working life and also my home life as well”.

It is the second time that Optical Express has chosen to thank NHS and Emergency Service workers in this way. In 2017, they launched their first ‘Thanks a Million’ campaign which saw them give away £1 million worth of free laser eye surgery. Over the course of the two campaigns more than £2 million worth of surgery will improve the lives of NHS and Emergency Service workers.

Since Optical Express was founded 32 years ago, the team are proud to have supported hundreds of humanitarian and philanthropic projects, donating over £33 million and counting to worthwhile causes in the UK and abroad.