載冠（式）／即位（式） Street Curly can see at last

厳しい long-sightedness had 減ずるd actor Kevin Kennedy's world to what he calls "a blurry soup".

"If I took my glasses off, I couldn't see the 表現 on my wife's 直面する - even if she was 権利 beside me," he says.

"I couldn't see 近づく or far - it was as difficult for me to read the number of a bus as it was to read a newspaper."

存在 the boy in the 厚い specs 形態／調整d his 早期に days. "Anyone who had to wear glasses as they were growing can never forget the 衝撃 it had on them," says Kevin.

"I was either 存在 選ぶd on by the other children or 存在 told off by my parents for losing my glasses."

And his spectacle-wearing defined his adult life, when he 設立する work as a geeky if good-hearted character actor, 顕著に as Curly ワットs in 載冠（式）／即位（式） Street.

Kevin's 出発 from the ITV soap in 2003 after 21 years was a watershed. 役割s on the West End 行う／開催する／段階 and on TV flooded in, but most 要求するd him to wear 接触する レンズs. "They're fiddly and I'm clumsy," he explains.

And after his wife Clare gave birth to their daughters, Katy May, now two, and Grace, eight months, playtime often ended with Kevin's specs 存在 投げつけるd across the room.

Kevin began 研究ing 注目する，もくろむ 外科 選択s. The best-known and most popular is レーザー 外科. But this was not an 選択 for him as his sight was too bad to be 訂正するd. Instead, he turned to Refractive レンズ 交流 (RLE), a technique which has been used for １０年間s to を取り引きする cataracts.

Few people know that this 安全な and welltried technique is 利用できる to those who, like Kevin, aren't suitable for レーザー 治療. レーザー therapy 伴う／関わるs reshaping the cornea, the transparent part of the 注目する，もくろむ that covers the iris, pupil and レンズ. In the cataract 外科 technique, the whole レンズ is 取って代わるd with a レンズ adjusted to the 患者's glasses prescription.

Two months ago he underwent the lifechanging o peration and now Kevin, 45, has dispensed with 事実上 all the paraphernalia that enabled him to see.

Gone are the glasses for everyday use 加える the 接触する レンズs and the きれいにする, soaking and 殺菌するing 解答s - even his special scuba 飛び込み mask with a 抱擁する レンズ made to his former +6 prescription. The only 見通し 援助（する）s he 要求するs are reading glasses, which he can now buy over the 反対する.

Kevin needed spectacles from the age of six, and they feature in many of his most vivid memories of growing up. "I lost 可能性のある girlfriends because of them," he says, "although I also 伸び（る）d some - the ones who liked the intelligent look. I can hardly remember not wearing glasses."

同様に as the long-sightedness, Kevin also had a lazy 注目する，もくろむ, for which he had to wear an 注目する，もくろむ patch for several months.

"That was 特に awful, because I had to wear my NHS glasses over the patch. These days it wouldn't 事柄 - you could pretend to be Johnny Depp in 著作権侵害者s Of The Caribbean, but I got called awful 指名するs.

"When I went to 演劇 school, I was 脅すd to go on 行う／開催する／段階, not 存在 able to see 適切に, so I got 接触する レンズs. But I hated all the messing about with きれいにする and the endless 殺菌するing.

"In fact, wearing 接触するs was the 禁止（する） of my life. So much so that when I went for the 載冠（式）／即位（式） Street audition, it was a 広大な／多数の／重要な 救済 that glasses ふさわしい the part of Curly."

But leaving 載冠（式）／即位（式） Street three years ago meant Kevin was leaving his 慰安 zone - in more ways than one.

"It was important to look different from Curly, to give myself another image," he says.

"接触する レンズs were a way of reinventing myself, so I went 支援する to them. But I soon remembered why I'd given up before - all that きれいにする and 殺菌するing.

"It was fantastic 存在 able to wear my glasses again when I appeared in Blue 殺人 on TV with Caroline Quenti n. I felt my 業績／成果 was 現実に more 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd because of it.

"Wearing 接触するs was getting in the way of the 事実上の／代理, because I was so aware of them and worried I might dislodge one.

"Like a demented stalker, I began 捜し出すing out people who'd had their 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd. Of course, lots of people in showbiz have had it done and the first I spoke to was the actor Brian Conley.

"Brian had a different 肉親，親類d of 外科 to me, but he said that having his 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd was an incredible experience."

レーザー 外科 was not an 選択 for Kevin, 存在 unsuitable for those with an extreme prescription (over +2) 予定 to the 可能性のある 危険 of glaucoma, a 病気 that can be 原因（となる）d when fluid in the 注目する，もくろむ doesn't drain 適切に.

So he chose to have both 注目する，もくろむs done on the same day with RLE. He also 選ぶd for a general anaesthetic - although the 手続き can be done with a 地元の.

"That was the bit I was looking 今後 to," Kevin explains. "存在 knocked out and not knowing anything about it. That and escaping from the kids for a day!

"My sister is a radiographer and my mother is a retired 地区 nurse so 医療の things don't really worry me."

First, a 2mm incision, small enough not to 要求する stitches, was made in each cornea, 原因（となる）ing the natural fluid to flow out. This was 取って代わるd with a jelly which held the corneas in place over the レンズs.

Then the pupils were dilated with eyedrops and through the incisions, a 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 穴を開ける was made in the 肌 which surrounds the natural レンズ.

A 調査（する） emitting a high frequency vibration was 適用するd to each レンズ, turning it into a liquid. Then a salt 解答 was pumped into each 注目する，もくろむ and this, along with the 破片, was sucked out.

The new レンズs were then '注入するd' into the space. Made of mouldable plastic and rolled up, they 広げる in situ. The natural レンズ 肌 is then wrapped around the 交替／補充 レンズs, 固執するing to them like 粘着する film.

"When I （機の）カム 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, I was wearing large plastic レンズs over my 注目する，もくろむs to 保護する them. They 現実に made me look like a 巨大（な） 飛行機で行く, and it was like peering through 霜d glass.

"However, before the 操作／手術, I had looked at the clock on the 塀で囲む and it was a 完全にする blur without glasses. Afterwards, even through my 保護の レンズs, I could see the time perfectly.

"From then on, I was looking out of the window like a man 所有するd, trying to 査定する／（税金などを）課す 正確に／まさに how much I could see.

"There was some 苦痛 - my 注目する，もくろむs felt tender and gritty - but it wasn't as agonising as having a speck of dirt 罠にかける under a 接触する レンズ. I had to wear the plastic レンズs for a couple of days and there was a bit of blurring, but within a week it was wonderful."

For the first time, Kevin is now a suitable 候補者 for レーザー 外科 so he won't even need reading glasses. However, he's not sure he wants it.

"Everyone my age seems to need reading glasses," he says. "When I go to a read-through for a play, all the reading glasses come out. I think I'll wait and think about it.

"But the difference RLE has made already is amazing. It's really 価値（がある） the £5,000 cost. I played in a charity football match at Manchester City recently and it was a joy. I felt as thought I could play for England.

"I'm about to open in panto and it's fantastic not to be worrying about blinking my 接触する レンズs out on 行う／開催する／段階.

"But best of all is that without glasses perched on my 直面する, I can get my nose and mouth between my baby's ear and shoulder, then blow raspberries to make her laugh.

"And when she cries in the night, I can get up and see to her without first rummaging for my glasses. I used to be so blind I couldn't even 位置を示す the 権利 end to put in her 模造の.

"The 外科 really has been lifechanging. In fact, my wif e Clare, who's short-sighted, is thinking about having it now.

"The downside is that my wrinkles are there for the whole world to see. Clare says I should get my 注目する，もくろむ 捕らえる、獲得するs done now."

Kevin Kennedy is appearing in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs at Southport Theatre and Floral Hall until January 7.

Box office: 01704 500036.