July 9, 2025

This piece is sponsored by Vance Thompson Vision.

It’s fair to say that everyone has a picture of their ideal vacation.

For Heather Greenwood, however, her most recent family trip to Disneyland was anything but ideal.

“My glasses broke on the trip,” she said. “They’re being held together with a Band-Aid, which is all we had. So there’s literally a picture of me and my family on a roller coaster, but I’m holding my glasses onto my face.”

For Greenwood, this reliance on glasses and contact lenses made life outside of Disney feel like a roller coaster.

“I had bifocal vision,” she said. “Contacts were an option to fix my far vision but not my near vision. And my contacts were requiring readers all the time, and I thought: ‘Why am I wearing contacts and readers? Why don’t I just switch to glasses?’ Then, with active children, my glasses were always getting bent and would fall off my face.”

One day, she saw an opportunity to be independent of glasses and contact lenses during a trip to a Women in Business Conference.

“Vance (Thompson Vision) had a booth there. I just said: ‘You know what? I’m going to sign up for that.’”

What seemed like a spur-of-the-moment decision was actually the result of years of frustration, combined with informed discussions with medical professionals.

“I asked my doctor (about LASIK), and they said I’d be a good candidate but that I’d need readers because of my age, and that just seemed to defeat the purpose.”

It wasn’t until her good friend, an ophthalmologist, told her about refractive lens exchange, or RLE, a procedure where the eye’s natural lens is replaced with an artificial one to correct refractive errors, that she realized she had real options. “She briefly explained it, and I thought ‘Yeah, that’d be great, but that’s a huge cost, and is it worth it to me?’”

Then, she reflected on that last trip to Disney. “This is my sign. I’m just going to have it done. Cost aside, it’s your eyes you’re talking about.”

Greenwood said that the moment she stepped into Vance Thompson Vision, she felt like she was the team’s main focus.

“My doctor attended to a lot of stuff that day. But no matter what he was attending to, I still felt like I was important,” she said. “I felt like I could have taken a whole hour if I had any concerns.”

She said her doctor explained what would happen the day of surgery and recovery. “He walked me through all the drop options that they give you so that you don’t have to make those decisions the day of surgery, when you could be a little bit anxious.”

The procedure took about 10 minutes for each eye.

“They treat it like two separate surgeries, which was impressive to me,” Greenwood said. “You come in, and they do one eye, and then they totally redo everything, get new tools and sterilize for the second eye. It’s probably one of the safest things I’ve been through.” Her recovery time was almost as quick. “I was able to drive the next day.”

Back in her active lifestyle, Greenwood said she’s enjoying life through a new, clearer lens.

“I was at my kids’ soccer games that weekend, and I didn’t have to wear my glasses. The blurriness is gone from my distance now, and I very seldom think of it,” she said. “It’s just become a norm that I don’t have to think about my vision anymore.”

With RLE, she’ll enjoy clear vision for the rest of her life and never have to worry about developing cataracts.

If you are wondering if your vision could be better or want to find out if you are a candidate for refractive lens exchange, call your eye doctor or learn more through a consultation at Vance Thompson Vision. To schedule, call us at 605- 361-EYES (3937).