The first thing that the radio and TV presenter Paul Ross does when his alarm goes off is to reach for his specs, even though he doesn’t need them any more. Ross, 50, used to be so shortsighted that he was classed as legally blind and for the past three years he has needed reading glasses for close work. Then last June he ditched his spectacles and contact lenses after ground-breaking new laser treatment gave him 20/20 vision for long distances and reading.

He says: “I hadn’t expected the treatment to be as life-changing as it was. When I came out of the operation I looked out of the surgery window on the second floor and I could read the car numberplates below. I don’t usually get emotional, but I choked up a bit and gave the surgeon a big hug.”

Ross lives in Buckinghamshire with his third wife and the eldest of his four daughters, Dolly, 16. From the age of 11 he just got on with the daily palaver of specs and then contact lenses. It seemed normal in a family he describes as the “four-eyed Waltons”: his lorry driver father, younger sister and four younger brothers, including the chatshow host Jonathan, are shortsighted. It didn’t stop their mother from getting the whole brood signed up with a model agency when Ross was 11, though.

“I thought I’d never get a snog”

At secondary school in Leytonstone, East London, Ross’s sight became progressively worse until his prescription was minus 9 (most shortsighted people wear about minus 6). Without glasses he was helpless. People and objects were mere blobs: he couldn’t see bus numbers or even recognise close friends. Even so, he says: “I never wore my glasses outside the classroom. It wasn’t because I got teased but more because you’re unconfident enough as a teenager anyway. And I thought I’d never get a snog or a slow dance in glasses. So I saved up for my first pair of contact lenses before I went to university.”

Ross originally considered having laser correction surgery ten years ago but decided against it when he was told that he was so shortsighted he would still need contact lenses and that the procedure would involve cutting the cornea. He changed his mind after developing age-related farsightedness, or presbyopia, at 47. It’s a condition that affects half the adult population and makes so many people over 45 reach for their reading glasses. For Ross, wearing thick varifocal glasses was the last straw. Despite his reputation as a bit of a ladies’ man, I believe him when he says that it wasn’t entirely about vanity.

“Glasses aren’t good for television because they catch the lights,” he says. “Contacts are a hassle too: I hated wearing them for nighttime driving and I got serious eye infections when I was filming in the Amazon a few years ago.”

Laser correction for reading vision has become available in the past five years through a technique called blended vision, the first treatment that can correct reading vision as well as distance vision problems, including severe short sight. Only one clinic in the UK, Focus Laser Vision, in Wimpole Street, Central London, is dedicated to providing the treatment.

Dr David Allamby, who is pioneering the procedure in this country, says: “The technique involves reshaping the cornea in each eye differently so that while both are multi-focal, one eye is weighted towards distance, the other towards reading. It’s a bit like stereo speakers with different things on each channel but you get the full effect when they are joined together. In most cases the brain quickly adapts. Only about one person in 20 wouldn’t get on with it because his or her brain won’t adapt, so we do extensive tests to make sure that patients are suitable.” In Ross’s case this involved wearing special contact lenses for a weekend. For others a few hours may be enough.

“l’ve been liberated from the hassle of specs”

Ross underwent the procedure in June. He recalls: “The whole thing took about ten minutes, with the laser treatment about 15 seconds per eye. I felt a bit like Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange with my eyes held open, but I’d had contact lenses for 32 years so I had no problem with people touching my eyeballs. The surgeon put in anaesthetic eyedrops, so it was painless although there was a smell of burning which I remember commenting on. ”

Two days after the operation his eyes were a bit sore and puffy. “I looked like I had a bad hangover. But I still did my Saturday morning radio show on LBC and by the Sunday the reaction had begun to subside.” Four months on, Ross has recently come to the end of the strict aftercare regimen, which involved using eye drops three times a day and wearing sunglasses, even when in the sea. “The whole thing has been a revelation. I accommodated the hassle of contacts and glasses for so long that it wasn’t a hassle any more – until I was liberated from it. Suddenly I was free.”

Treatment by numbers

1 in 20 patients is unsuitable for the treatment because his/her brain cannot adapt to the imbalance in the eyes

1 in 1,000 patients does not like blended vision, but the procedure is reversible

£995-£2,000 is the cost; from £995 per eye for noncustomised treatments for simple short sight, to between £1,400 and £2,000 per eye for customised treatments

What is it?

Blended vision is the only technique that can correct reading vision and short sight. Two treatments are used: Lasik (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) and Lasek (laser-assisted epithelial keratomileusis). Keratomileusis means reshaping the cornea, which acts as a lens. Lasik is used in 80 per cent of cases; Lasek is used in more extreme cases, such as in Paul Ross’s. In both treatments the laser reshapes the cornea, making it more convex to give it greater focusing power. Reading vision improves within days, while distance sight can take 4-12 weeks. Contact focusclinics.com, 0845 5000500

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