A MAN who has had his sight restored says it is a 'dream come true' after operation was delayed due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Rob Blackman (79) from Fareham said his new sight is "like a lovely dream, so colourful."

The ex-marine was originally due to have treatment in Portsmouth when Covid restrictions meant his operation was delayed.

He was treated at Optegra Eye Hospital Hampshire, based in Whiteley.

Bob said: “My sight was getting so bad. It was affecting every aspect of my life including my work. Out and about I would walk by people and could not recognize them.

"I was even seeing double, and used to meet people and say ‘how are you both?!’ I really had just had enough!”

“I had a real imbalance across my eyes which was causing headaches, as I had good vision in my right eye and hardly any vision in my left. So I could read a car number plate at 25m with one eye, but could hardly see the car with the other!

"While I am retired, I am a governor of a local health trust and was finding it very hard to work on the computer and to Zoom, as I could not see things. If I have a big computer screen, I still could not see the keyboard well enough."

The ex-marine said his treatment was "a dream come true."

He added: “Even the very next day my eyesight was brilliant, like being re-born! I wore the eye mask over night and used the drops sparingly. But I lost my darling wife recently, after being married for 55 years, so I cry a lot. It is like having natural eye drops!

“But I feel so much better with my eyes done, it is a dream come true.

“This time was so much better, with technology being so advanced. It was painless and within 20 minutes was all done the recovery has been so straightforward. All the staff were really first class and I cannot think of anywhere better to be for treatment. I felt really valued as a patient and so welcomed.”