Adam Robert THOM has been a patient of Dr Alpins since he was 15 months old. Adam was born severely cross eyed and after seeing several doctors who had said he would "grow out of it" we were then referred to Dr Alpins and this turned out to be a life changing decision. Dr Alpins performed corrective surgery on Adams eyes in 1981 and then prescribed glasses for Adam. which he wore until he was 21. When Adam was very young he had nightmares that his eyes were being stolen. We consulted Dr Alpins who put some numbing drops in Adam's eyes. He asked if Adam could feel his eyes to which he replied no and the put a mirror in front of Adam and asked him if he could see his eyes to which he replied yes. Dr Alpins explained that given time there was a possibility of restoring normal and numbing of the eyes was part of the process. He did not have any more nightmares. Through Adam's early years he was constantly bullied, teased and picked on at school because of the extremely thick glasses he wore. We had moved to far north Queensland in 1994 however we kept in touch with Dr Alpins and the New Vision Clinic as Dr Alpins was always confident that he could successfully perform corrective laser surgery on Adam' eyes. Adam was 20 when he had three consecutive eye tests were his eyes had not changed at which time we contacted Dr Alpins. He booked Adam in for surgery and in 2000 we drove to Melbourne and after intensive testing Dr Alpins performed corrective laser surgery on Adam. On leaving the surgery following the procedure Adam started to cry and when asked why, and even thought he was wearing clear plastic patches over his eyes, he could see perfectly for the first time in his life without the use of "coke bottle" glasses. This changed Adam' s life dramatically. His confidence soared and as he put it "I have rid myself of the stigma related to wearing glasses". Dr Alpins advised that Adam may need glasses as he gets older. Adam is now 38 and recently had his bi-annual eye test with the result showing that his eye sight is still perfect as a result of the laser surgery. We would like to thank Dr Alpins for his pioneering work at the New Vision Clinic and the wonderful skills and knowledge he imparts to other staff at the clinic. We will always be eternally grateful to Dr Alpins and the New Vision Clinic for giving Adam a quality of life we never thought possible. read more