ADVENTURE-loving Sarah Canning’s life-changing eye surgery to correct myopia has opened a whole new world to her.

Goodrich resident Sarah, 63, has travelled the globe in pursuit of exciting activities that bring her closer to nature, but the myopia, a form of short-sightedness, she’d had since the age of 10 was increasingly limiting her abilities.

Sarah explains that the turning point came in 2023 when she took part in the 15km Scilly Swim Challenge around the Isles of Scilly and found herself veering off course because she couldn’t see where she was going.

Sarah, who is the lead optometrist at a sight-saving clinic, spoke with her colleagues and decided to have lens replacement surgery, which involves removing the eye’s natural lens and replacing it with a synthetic prescription lens to correct a person’s sight. The procedure is similar to cataract surgery.

With a big year of swimming challenges planned for this year, Sarah said: “The main impetus behind me having this surgery was my open-water swimming. My issue was that I was so dependent on glasses and contact lenses, but these weren’t compatible with swimming, and I could never find a pair of prescription goggles that didn't leak.

“My myopia was so limiting when I was in the water, I couldn’t really see where I was going and resulted in me swimming far further than I needed because I kept going off course.

“I wanted to be able to swim confidently, and I thought that having my natural lenses replaced would also pre-empt the likelihood of getting cataracts when I’m older.

“It seemed like the sensible decision to make because it’s now given me a future without glasses and freed me up to pursue the active life I want.”

After having the lens replacement surgery, Sarah was able to fulfil one of her lifelong wishes of swimming with sea lions in the waters off the Galapagos Islands, where green sea turtles, marine iguanas and Galapagos penguins can also be seen.

She now plans to follow this with three open-water events this summer – in Snowdonia and Devon – covering distances between 4km-10km.

Sarah added: “Since the surgery, it’s given me an extra freedom. It’s been a revelation. I feel like I’ve had a barrier removed, which has made me feel younger and energised. It’s been life changing.

‘I wasn’t nervous before the surgery. Having seen so many patients before and after their surgery, I was fine. I was actually more intrigued to be a patient experiencing it.

“Having now undergone the procedure, I can speak with patients about my experience and reassure them if needed.”

Sarah works as the lead optometrist at Newmedica, a clinic which specialises in treatments such as cataracts, glaucoma, oculoplastic and retinal conditions across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Myopia occurs when the eyeball is slightly too long or the cornea is curved too steeply, causing light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it causing nearsightedness where objects close up appear clearly, but distant objects are blurry.