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Spectacle free birth was a surprise sight for Julie

20th December 2012 Print
Julie and Kelly

Yorkshire sisters Julie Reed and Kelly Taylor had always been close and even had their children around the same time. So it made perfect sibling sense to embark on the latest laser eye surgery together too.

In a bid to ditch the specs that had blighted their lives, 33 year old Julie 35 year old Kelly from Yorkshire, decided to take the plunge and go ahead with the newest, most technically advanced, bladeless laser treatment available.

Both Kelly and Julie are both busy, working mums and were desperate to be glasses free so they could enjoy their young families to the full.

Julie, mum of 3, recently gave birth to baby Poppy. This was the first labour and birth she had gone through where she could actually see her baby being born, as previously she had removed her specs during labour. She said: "Not having to wear glasses or contact lenses when in labour was an absolute joy. Having Poppy was amazing - she was the first of my three children that I have been able to actually see being born and that is such a special moment to miss when you can't see properly. It had the added bonus that my first photographs with our baby girl were glasses free for the first time. That was so nice rather than the old bespectacled me holding the baby!" Julie, who works part time, is also a council swimming coach and qualified athletics teacher - so good eyesight is crucial. She continued: "Teaching athletics means getting dust in your eyes, and teaching swimming means being regularly splashed, which really affected my contact lenses. I had just had enough and something had to be done."

Sister Kelly echoed Julie's concerns about wearing glasses. She said "Our children are both the same age so we have gone through the same things together. We are running partners so we were both constantly worrying about wearing glasses in the rain or always having to remember contact lenses wherever we went. She continued: "I was constantly dashing around with my kids and didn't want to have the extra worry.  We were both apprehensive at first and a bit scared - after all, you do only get one pair of eyes - but we were immediately put at ease.  Having the surgery has been completely life changing for both of us.  Our eyesight became sharper and clearer over the months that followed the treatment and it was so reassuring to have my sister there, too, as we could discuss and compare - I don't think I could have done it without her."

Both Julie and Kelly were treated by consultant ophthalmic surgeon, Milind Pande, who heads the Vision Surgery & Research Centre. Kelly is keen to outline the benefits of a great surgeon doing the surgery. She said: "We both thought very highly of Mr Pande who undertook our surgery, he was so calm and collected and instilled confidence straight away. He gave me constant recaps about what was happening and was very thorough. It was a first-class experience."

Consultant surgeon, Milind Pande said: "I recommended bilateral Femtosecond LASIK laser vision correction for both Kelly and Julie and I am delighted with the results and that they are so happy with their new glasses free vision. With this procedure, a thin flap is made in the cornea using a laser. A second laser is used to reshape the eye beneath to correct short-sightedness. This laser work usually takes less than a minute for each eye, before the flap is replaced and antibiotics are placed into the eye.

Visit visionsurgery.co.uk for further information.

More Photos - Click to Enlarge

Julie and Kelly