Our new life without glasses

27 May 2016

Two sisters, Chiara and Laura Dester, entrepreneurs from Manerba del Garda, run one of the most popular and successful flower-growing farms in Lombardy, Italy. The nursery boasts a unique collection of aloe, both in terms of its size and the quality of its specimens.

Many years have passed since Dr Pinelli allowed both sisters to do without their sight glasses. On May 1st this year they both recognised Dr Pinelli’s family as they visited the nursery to buy an aloe arborescens plant for the doctor. Dr Pinelli uses this particular species of aloe to prepare healthy herbal teas, beside studying its properties and clinical use in ophthalmology.

The two sisters were very happy to meet Dr Pinelli’s wife and excitedly told her about how different their lives had become after their surgery.

I’m so glad I found you and Dr Pinelli again!” said Chiara, the elder of the two sisters. “Many people ask information about him when I say that I’ve never had to wear any type of eyeglasses after I had my operation, many years ago. I knew Dr Pinelli had moved to Switzerland, but that was all… Now, at last, I know what to answer when my clients and friends enviously enquire about my perfect eye sight!.”

Chiara Dester (right) was operated on by Dr Pinelli on 30th of June 2003. Today, at 52, she can read comfortably without reading spectacles, although presbyopia (the inability to focus on objects near the eye) would normally set in at her age. Thirteen years ago she underwent a bilateral simultaneous Lasik procedure to correct a 3.75-dioptre myopia in her right eye and a 3.50-dioptre myopia with associated astigmatism in her left eye.

Presbyopia?? I’m not worried about it!,” added Chiara. “At the time of my surgery Dr Pinelli calculated an algorithm that would allow me to read, use my smartphone, and so on without reading glasses today. And if in a few years I experience any difficulty in reading, I know I can rely on Dr Pinelli’s improved technique to eliminate presbyopia, the Pinelli Presby Profile. I’d undoubtedly choose this innovative procedure.”

Find out more about the Pinelli Presby Profile

Laura Dester, Chiara’s younger sister (left), had milder myopia than her sister, but could not stand wearing sight glasses and found contact lenses uncomfortable. So she, too, underwent bilateral Lasik 13 years ago, one week before Chiara did. Just like her sister she’s never had to wear eyeglasses since then. Today she’ 48 and she doesn’t need any reading glasses, while most people at her age do.

Now I find not wearing glasses perfectly normal, but I remember the day I underwent my Lasik surgery very well. That was 13 years ago, on 23rd of June 2003. In those days, a mechanical tool was still used to create the upper corneal flap [a mycrokeratome]. I know that a more sophisticated and less invasive technique is available today, in which the flap is created by using a beam of light. It’s amazing!

 

Find out more about Femto Lasik X-tra, a non-surgical technique that uses only photons