Seeing and being seen in new ways

Switching from glasses to contact lenses at age 18 made me feel more attractive, more approachable and less "bookish." It gave me the little added boost of self-confidence I needed as a brand-new college student. I wore contacts until I was about 40, but the last few years were rough. My eyes would get red and irritated more quickly (the optometrist said I had "thin tears"), and I grew tired of the process of cleaning and storing the lenses after each wearing. When we adopted Philip in 1998 I gave up on contact lenses because I was too busy to deal with them and I decided they were no longer worth the effort. Appearance became less important than taking care of the needs of my family, including all the demands of a newborn baby.

When Philip was 4 or 5 years old I tried wearing disposable contact lenses, but they irritated my eyes almost as much as the gas-permeable lenses and were more expensive. I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to wear glasses "forever." I never felt attractive in glasses, and there were incidents that confirmed these feelings. For example, in January 2007 I was writing an article for B2B Quarterly and made a phone call to a person I had spoken with at a local event. At first she couldn't remember who I was, and then she said, "Oh--you were the one with the glasses." Ugh. It didn't help that she was a willowy, attractive blonde. I hated the fact that my glasses were the only thing she could remember about me.

Then in the spring of 2007 I was interviewing Dr. James Liu for an article in Women's Edition and I learned about refractive lensectomy. Finally, a way to get rid of glasses AND contacts forever! The cost seemed prohibitive, but my husband Tom was supportive. Finally I decided to "go for it" as a celebration of a new stage in my life.

On April 12 I will be 50, and it will be almost a year since the first surgery. Was it worth the expense? YES! I love the freedom of not wearing glasses or contacts, and I feel more confident when talking with new people in situations like networking events. Now there is no barrier between me and the world.