For years, Shropshire resident Beryl Snow found herself returning again and again for new glasses that never quite worked. “I couldn’t use my laptop properly, and every prescription still didn’t feel right,” she recalls.
It was only when a new optometrist in her hometown, near Ludlow, identified cataracts that Beryl found an answer to her worsening vision. Receiving a referral to her nearest SpaMedica, Beryl’s NHS cataract treatment improved her distance vision so much that she no longer needed glasses for driving.
Thrilled with the result, the experience prompted Beryl, aged 80, to voice a concern she’d harboured for a long time – could anything be done about her ‘heavy eyelids’?
She explains: “I’ve never had lovely deep-set eyes, but over the years my lids became heavier and heavier. It felt like my eyes were becoming slits, and I was constantly lifting my eyebrows just to let more light in.
“When I visited SpaMedica I was surrounded by information on all of the eye health services and I thought I’d just ask the question — almost casually — thinking I’d never be able to afford it.”
The team at SpaMedica Worcester arranged a visual field test, which showed that Beryl’s upper eyelids were obstructing her line of sight, meeting the clinical criteria for NHS-funded ptosis repair.
Under the care of oculoplastic surgeon Anna Gao, Beryl underwent right‑eyelid ptosis repair and blepharoplasty at the end of 2025, with her left eyelid treated in early 2026.
Recovery brought expected bruising and swelling, and a short period when she couldn’t fully close her eyes – effects she’d been prepared for in advance by Anna. “You do have to be patient. It isn’t ‘one day you have the procedure and you look amazing the next’. But I woke up and everything was so much brighter. And I don’t have to lift my eyebrows anymore to see properly,” she adds.
“It’s a big thing to undergo, but I felt surprisingly relaxed. Anna gave me complete confidence. I had no idea eyelid surgery could be done on the NHS – I thought it would be completely out of my budget,” she says.
Today, Beryl talks about the practical and personal wins. At the optician, she no longer needs to lift her lids or eyebrows to have her eyes examined. It’s something she believes should be a red flag to prompt opticians to consider if eyelid surgery might be beneficial, and potentially unlock access for thousands of patients like her. “If I hadn’t been in the system for cataracts and asked the question by chance, I might never have known this was possible. I’m quite a private person, but I believe people should know about this.”
At home, Beryl is looking forward to wearing eye make-up again. She describes how her husband noticed the changes immediately: “He said he could see all of my eyes finally, and that they looked sparkly.”
She adds: “It’s lovely to wake up and feel like my eyes are actually open. I’ve always been active, and I want to keep being active. These surgeries have definitely helped with that.”
Anna Gao, a consultant ophthalmologist at SpaMedica Worcester, leads the oculoplastics service – a highly specialised branch of ophthalmology focused on surgical management of conditions involving the eyelids, tear drainage system, and orbit (the area around the eye).
She says patients often dismiss ptosis, commonly referred to as droopy eyelids, as “just age”, or purely cosmetic.
“Many patients don’t realise something can be done, and that, if their visual field is affected, it may be eligible under the NHS,” she explains.
“Community optometrists are pivotal – spotting eyelid‑related field defects, distinguishing common lid lesions from anything more concerning, and sign posting patients into the right place for treatment.”
Oculoplastics procedures are currently available at SpaMedica Worcester.
To find out more visit: www.spamedica.co.uk/treatments/oculoplastics/
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