SANDRA Grant used to be so short-sighted she had to wear glasses and contact lenses at the same time.

Now, thanks to a new kind of surgery, she can watch TV and even drive without using either.

Life was all a blur for Sandra, from Worthing, but now a lens implant operation has cured her severe short-sightedness.

Her surgeon says she is the first person in the South to have the operation, which involves permanently inserting special lenses into her eyes using a technique pioneered in Russia.

Sandra, 33, of Cissbury Road, Broadwater, says the change has been incredible.

She wore glasses up until the age of 14, then transferred to contact lenses. Finally, at the age of 24, experts decided her sight was so bad that she would have to wear both.

"My eye surgeon has always said in the past that I was so bad no operation would help me, but when he heard about this one he said he thought there was a chance.

"Now I've had the operation and it's amazing, but so hard to describe.

"Before I could see absolutely nothing. I could only make out the TV because I knew it was square and black and was in my sitting room, but now I can sit on the settee and read Teletext without any glasses on."

The source of Sandra's problem was an unusual combination of short-sightedness, or myopia, and misshapen eyeballs, or astigmatism.

Surgeon Chad Rostron had to 'inject' lenses into Sandra's eyes while she was conscious. She says the process felt "bizarre".

Sandra said: "I had to keep telling myself, 'You're going to be able to see after this, so it's worth it'.

"While they do the operation you can feel nothing else at all, but you can see shadows of light and colour.

"It was a very exciting experience, and if I had a third eye I'd have it done all over again.

"My husband, Charlie, thinks it's brilliant too, although he was quite concerned that I would be shocked when I could finally see what he really looked like!"

The operation is generally only available privately at £3,500 an eye, but Sandra's sight was judged so poor she qualified to have it on the NHS. Mr Rostron, a specialist from London's Harley Street, says its effects have proved ground-breaking.

He said: "It was first taken up by a Manchester-based eye surgeon, Emmanuel Rosen, who taught me, and Sandra's right eye was the first I did."

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