Laser Eye Surgery Review by Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell, Professional Rugby
Player, had Wavefront LASEK laser eye treatment in June 2009. Treated
by Dr
Boezaart at Optimax London Laser Eye Surgery Clinic.
"To walk out at Twickenham in front of 90,000 people was
something special. And being able to see my friends and family
in
the stands, and see them clearly, was a special moment
for me."
"It was difficult at times. The physios on the side of the pitch
would have to carry 3 or 4 replacement contact lenses for me,
in both eyes. I'd regularly lose contact lenses during the games,
which is distracting at the best of times but it was annoying a lot
of the time, and it happened for the best part of my career
so I finally decided to do something about it.
My eyesight was pretty bad, I was very short-sighted and it was very difficult seeing
people on the field. I had no idea where the ball would be, or how
far away it would be, and relying a lot of the time on
instinct.
The very first consultation, which was very quick, very
simple, all the staff were very friendly and the
procedure itself was actually not as bad as I feared. And
when I had the procedure, I was very well looked after and the
aftercare was superb and even until to this day, I'm still
receiving aftercare and it's all first class.
Bigger thing for me, and it's still a thing that I still have a
great feeling about, is waking up in the morning and being able to
see. You know, throughout my entire life, I started wearing glasses
at 5 years of age, so from the very first moment I can
remember virtually, waking up in the mornings and reaching
over to get my glasses is, I still do that now but it's, I'll
get used to it in the end. And it's really nice to wake up and look
at the ceiling and looking around and know I can see
everything perfectly.
I can see things much clearer now. My eyesight's better than it
was than with the contact lenses. Yeah, I can just do things just
that little bit quicker, it's great. I can think of one specific
thing that when I'm in a close combat, in a mauling
situation, rucking or tackling, I used to close my eyes.
Purely and simply because I knew that if I got a knock to the eye,
or I got brushed from a shirt in the eye, my contact lenses would
come out. Now I don't necessarily have to worry about that. And
obviously I don't want to get poked in the eye, but I can actually
go into contact situations now, seeing everything and not have to
worry about losing my contact lenses.
It's been a big positive experience in my life and hopefullly my
eyesight will stay the same and I can continue doing what
I do best, which is playing rugby.
I feel like my eyesight is absoluately perfect. I feel
absolutely fine. I feel, I feel great.
I always wanted to play rugby, from virtually since I can
remember, and obvioulsy wanted to play for my country. But one of
those things I wanted to do was to play against the All
Blacks. The All Blacks are the best team in the world. They might
not have won the World Cup for a while, but they are the best team
in the world. And to walk out at Twickenham in front of 90,000
people, to see a mass of people in the stadium and mass of
colours and to see the hacker, done in front of me, was something
special. But I think also as well, singing the National
Anthem and being able to see my friends and family in the stands,
and see them clearly, is a special moment for me, and that will
live in memory for a long time.
I can remember specifically remembering, I'm finally,
I'm here, I've lived my dream, I'm living my
dream and I'm going to play against the All Blacks and that's
the best rugby experience of my career.
I'd say go for it straight away. I've been hestitant about
eye surgery for my entire rugby career, and that's 10 years plus.
I've put it off every single year and finally I decided to do it,
and I wish I'd done it 10 years ago.
Well, laser surgery has been a big benefit
for me, as a player on the field. You know, I used to
lose a lot of contact lenses previously, from knocks and getting
them wiped out of the eye. And I obviously don't experience that
anymore. I can go into tackles and into rucks and contact
situations with my eyes wide open, and not really worrying about
losing my contact lenses because they're obviously not there, and
do my job, which is to bring people down so, I don't have to
worry about contact lenses anymore and that's a great
relief."
All our success stories are volunteered by Optimax patients who are so delighted with
results of their treatment that they wanted to share their
experience with others.
More laser eye surgery review videos.