Born severely short-sighted and with astigmatism in both eyes, Trish Wallace had worn glasses since she was three years old, with her right eye being particularly ‘myopic’. Because she hated wearing clunky, “milk-bottle” glasses, she moved to hard contact lenses which also helped with her astigmatism and wore them for 30 years.

While Trish was working in her office job in the past couple of years, her eyesight began to deteriorate significantly so she had to have her lens prescription increased over time. “Work started to become problem. I noticed that while using the computer I really strained to see things; graphs in particular seemed ‘foggy’,” says Trish. “It was really a disadvantage with presentations and business events.”

“I live in the country on a side road that merges into a main road and was having difficulty judging how far away cars were while waiting to turn into this main road. My concern over safety finally broke the camel’s back,” adds Trish. “So when I discovered I had cataracts, it was a shock. I certainly didn’t think of myself as being old at only 60!”

“On my first visit to Dr Ring and his team, I was quite excited to find out cataract operations were really a simple procedure. Even better than that, they advised me that they could put in toric lenses so it was as if I was going to have cataract and laser eye surgery in the same operation,” says Trish. “The team that took care of me were true professionals and yet genuinely down-to-earth, nice people. Dr Ring’s approach is that the patient should be in full control of the procedure and have all the options.”

Trish admits that the procedure has made a huge difference to her overall quality of life.

“I’ve never had this kind of vision. I had always had trouble seeing distance and now I feel like I can see through hills,” she says.

Severely longsighted, Jennifer Aston wore glasses from the age of two. “My parents used to tie them to me because I was always pulling them off,” she says. “I was known as ‘four eyes’ at school.” At 16 she was determined to have contact lenses even though her optometrist at the time informed her that because her eyesight was so poor, the contacts would have to be thick and could cause damage to her eyes.

She was given hard contact lenses, which were the best lenses for her at the time. In the years she wore them from age 16 to 61, she scratched her cornea on many occasions and could not wear contacts for some time while reverting to glasses. To add insult to injury, she had to recuperate from every corneal scratch in a dark room for the first 24 hours. Because she and her husband are avid travellers, it also used to be a mission to take contacts everywhere she went, packing all the equipment in lots of little plastic bags.

On her first visit to Dr Ring, he recommended ReSTOR intraocular lenses, where Jennifer’s natural lens would be taken out and an artificial one put in, removing her lifelong dependence on contacts. Her new ReSTOR lenses have made the crucial difference in many aspects of her life. Jennifer cannot help but extol the life-changing nature of her surgery. “Even now, I wake up in the morning and I think, wow, I can see!”

“It was lovely to deal with Dr Ring and Jasha’s team,” says Jennifer. “You feel as though you are not going to be rushed into anything. It’s not simply about performing the surgery: they will only do it if it is right for the particular patient. They were very professional.

“I had absolutely terrible eyesight – if they can fix my eyes, they can fix almost anyone’s.”

Born severely short-sighted and with astigmatism in both eyes, Trish Wallace had worn glasses since she was three years old, with her right eye being particularly ‘myopic’. Because she hated wearing clunky, “milk-bottle” glasses, she moved to hard contact lenses which also helped with her astigmatism and wore them for 30 years.

While Trish was working in her office job in the past couple of years, her eyesight began to deteriorate significantly so she had to have her lens prescription increased over time. “Work started to become problem. I noticed that while using the computer I really strained to see things; graphs in particular seemed ‘foggy’,” says Trish. “It was really a disadvantage with presentations and business events.”

“I live in the country on a side road that merges into a main road and was having difficulty judging how far away cars were while waiting to turn into this main road. My concern over safety finally broke the camel’s back,” adds Trish. “So when I discovered I had cataracts, it was a shock. I certainly didn’t think of myself as being old at only 60!”

“On my first visit to Dr Ring and his team, I was quite excited to find out cataract operations were really a simple procedure. Even better than that, they advised me that they could put in toric lenses so it was as if I was going to have cataract and laser eye surgery in the same operation,” says Trish. “The team that took care of me were true professionals and yet genuinely down-to-earth, nice people. Dr Ring’s approach is that the patient should be in full control of the procedure and have all the options.”

Trish admits that the procedure has made a huge difference to her overall quality of life.

“I’ve never had this kind of vision. I had always had trouble seeing distance and now I feel like I can see through hills,” she says.

Severely longsighted, Jennifer Aston wore glasses from the age of two. “My parents used to tie them to me because I was always pulling them off,” she says. “I was known as ‘four eyes’ at school.” At 16 she was determined to have contact lenses even though her optometrist at the time informed her that because her eyesight was so poor, the contacts would have to be thick and could cause damage to her eyes.

She was given hard contact lenses, which were the best lenses for her at the time. In the years she wore them from age 16 to 61, she scratched her cornea on many occasions and could not wear contacts for some time while reverting to glasses. To add insult to injury, she had to recuperate from every corneal scratch in a dark room for the first 24 hours. Because she and her husband are avid travellers, it also used to be a mission to take contacts everywhere she went, packing all the equipment in lots of little plastic bags.

On her first visit to Dr Ring, he recommended ReSTOR intraocular lenses, where Jennifer’s natural lens would be taken out and an artificial one put in, removing her lifelong dependence on contacts. Her new ReSTOR lenses have made the crucial difference in many aspects of her life. Jennifer cannot help but extol the life-changing nature of her surgery. “Even now, I wake up in the morning and I think, wow, I can see!”

“It was lovely to deal with Dr Ring and Jasha’s team,” says Jennifer. “You feel as though you are not going to be rushed into anything. It’s not simply about performing the surgery: they will only do it if it is right for the particular patient. They were very professional.

“I had absolutely terrible eyesight – if they can fix my eyes, they can fix almost anyone’s.”