A high flying eagle can spot prey from several hundred yards away on the ground...while many humans have trouble recognising someone across the street or, as they get older, focusing on small print in front of them.

When they coined the phrase "eagle-eyed", they certainly were not talking about people who have long needed glasses or contact lenses to correct their vision.

For those who hate the thought of depending on either just to get through their day, there is a popular alternative which has been catching on very quickly in the last decade - laser surgery. An article in a 1999 Time magazine called it "the most popular elective surgery among baby boomers since they all had their tonsils removed in the 1950s".

And in the time it takes a person to remove and replace their contacts, a person's vision can be improved to 20/20!

Lasix (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) is a procedure that is performed widely in the United States and Canada, with that same Time article estimating that 500,000 Americans would undergo the procedure that year, which was almost double the figures from 1998. Three years before that the surgery was not even available in the US.

There are risks involved, with patients reporting diminished contrast or trouble with glare and halos at night, but many, including a number of local residents, have experienced no such problems and are completely happy with the results of their surgery.

More and more residents are travelling to either the United States or Canada to have the operation. Accountant Dudley Cottingham had the surgery performed at Bochner Eye Institute last year after discussing it with his optometrist, Dr. Michael Keyes.

"I had comments from a couple of people along the way, `you really ought to get laser surgery' and I just said to him (Dr. Keyes) `what do you think of laser eye surgery?' He said `I have nothing against it at all'," explained Mr. Cottingham.

"He said `if you want to consider that then we have to send information off on your eyes to a place in Canada and I would need to do some further tests'. I went back in a few days later for further tests and he sent it off to Bochner Eye Institute in Toronto and they contacted me within a matter of weeks.

"They said `we've reviewed your data and you are definitely an excellent candidate for laser eye surgery. When do you want to come up?'."

An initially cautious Mr. Cottingham wanted to check first with other people who had the procedure at Bochner, just to determine their reputation. He was told they saw on average about 40 people a year from Bermuda.

"They said they would contact some people and get them to call me, but nobody did call me," he explained.

"I can only imagine that's probably because people feel `I don't want to go and push this guy into doing it and if it didn't work out for him, he gets upset with me'. There are some people now who, when I explain it to them, say `I would never do that to my eyes'."

Mr. Coddington met Deborah Middleton who shared with him her experience at Bochner.

"I met somebody else who had also been at Bochner who also had a good experience, so I thought well I've got to go up there in October for some meetings, why not try to combine it," Mr. Cottingham explained.

He went straight to the clinic from the airport and had the procedure done. It took 31 seconds to do one eye and 29 the other...60 seconds of actual surgery time

Mr. Cottingham, who had been wearing glasses since about the age of 18, still requires glasses for reading as the surgery only corrected his near-sightedness, also known as myopia.

"I had a stigmatism in both eyes, which they explained to me is that my eyes are shaped like American footballs whereas they should be round like a basketball," he explained.

"What the laser does is reshape the cornea and that's why you need reading glasses, because as you get older with reading stuff, the muscles aren't pulling the eyes into focus properly."

Mr. Cottingham, who was wearing variable focals for both distance and reading, enjoys not having to wear glasses all the time.

"Living in Bermuda, during the summer you are in and out of the water and you have to stop and think where did you put your glasses, so it's quite handy not to have to wear the glasses," he said.

"But if I'm going to read something, I must remember to take my reading glasses.

"Some people have said they see halos with the lights when driving at night, but I haven't had any of that. In fact, I drove the day after the procedure for about three hours in Canada."

Mr. Cottingham's procedure for both eyes cost 3,800 Canadian dollars. When he asked the surgeon if he could recommend the procedure to others, he was told to advise those same people to be careful about accepting big discounts from clinics.

In the United States some of the procedures are done in malls, with onlookers allowed to watch through an open window.

"When I went along, they spent at least an hour and a quarter going through tests," Mr. Cottingham recalls.

"I saw about three different people before I got to the actual procedure itself, so they were very, very thorough. They made me feel comfortable, they were so professional.

"If I had walked in off the street and somebody had a quick look and then said `okay, put your head down there', I would have been really worried."

Immediately Mr. Cottingham's vision improved.

"He (the doctor) said to me that by nine o'clock that night I would be seeing really clearly," Mr. Cottingham recalls.

"I was lying on the bed at the hotel and looked up and could see the lines around the edge of the ceiling so sharply, it was amazing. That was within three hours of the procedure."

Mr. Cottingham's personal assistant at work, Liz Mayne, had the procedure done at another clinic in Toronto, Herzig Eye Institute. She, too, had problems with both distance and reading, but does not need glasses at all after surgery on each eye corrected one of the problems.

"I was so fed up wearing my glasses, it was for everything from eating my dinner...the works," said Mrs. Mayne who admitted the first thing she used to reach for in the morning was her glasses.

"And it was also the last thing off at night," she added.

"I got into the shower a couple of times and forgot, because they were a part of your face after a while."

She, too had her initial tests done here with the information faxed up to Herzig where they determined she was a candidate. One eye took 42 seconds and the other was more than 50 seconds.

The procedure done on Mrs. Mayne is called Mono, where one eye is corrected for distance and the other for reading. Now she doesn't even need glasses for reading.

"It is the most wonderful thing, I would recommend it to anybody," she said of laser surgery.

"I have absolutely no regrets. I started (wearing glasses) when I was about 17, so I was wearing glasses over 25 years. It just got to be a royal pain when you can do nothing without putting your glasses on."

Mr. Keyes has had many enquiries about laser surgery. His own daughter also went to Bochner to have the procedure done.

"I completely recommend it, it is very safe and the results are really very good," said the Optometrist.

"We get quite a steady flow of people coming through here and we refer them, usually to Canada. I do know that Bochner has a good reputation. I wouldn't put anyone off, but there are certain people who can't have it done."

Deborah Middleton was glad she did not fall into that category. She had been wearing glasses since she was nine years old and admits her vision was poor.

"I wore contact lenses and had to have my glasses close to hand if I took my contact lenses off," she explained.

"I started to find it a little bit difficult focusing on close print until I had the surgery and it staved it off. I can read just fine without glasses.

"I worked at Conyers Dill and Pearman at the time and I knew at least 12 people there who had the laser eye surgery and were very pleased with the results. My vision was not getting any better and I felt like it was time to do something about it.

"It was the best decision I ever made. I have 20/20 vision now and have forgotten what it's like not to be able to see. I went up (to Toronto) on the Wednesday, had the surgery on the Thursday, a check-up on the Friday and was back in the office on the Monday.

"Dr. Teye-Botchway did my pre-operative exam and faxed it off to Bochner and then he also did all my post-op."

Mrs. Middleton saw an improvement in her vision before she even left the reclined chair.

"I had about 60 seconds on each eye so literally in two minutes I swung my legs off the operating table and there was a little sign that said: `Wow, I can see'," she recalled.

"I didn't even notice the sign when I went in. Then I was able to walk back to the hotel without glasses and it was like a miracle."

Lawyer Graham Collis had the surgery performed almost three years ago and since then a number of colleagues at CD&P have followed.

"One of my colleagues had it done in Toronto and he was very happy with it," said Mr. Collis.

"He had coke bottle bottom glasses and he came back a new man and a year after he did it there must have been ten of us from this office who went off and had it done. Everyone is extremely pleased.

"I wore contact lenses and glasses for 25 years and the biggest change is not having to deal with all that contact lens solution. Most people in this office are thrilled and reckon they can see 20/20 and haven't had any problems.

"I tell people when I left the hotel room I couldn't read the number on my door. And now as I look out across the (Hamilton) harbour, I can see birds sitting on rooftops in Paget!

"I tell people I can see better now than I could ever see with contact lenses or glasses. I always tell people it is the best money I have ever spent!"

Bochner has become a popular choice for Bermudians. Last week when The Royal Gazette spoke to Linda Hargreaves, the Optometic Laison Director at Bochner, four Bermudians had been to the clinic that day for treatment and one the day before.

"I work with doctors such as the two in Bermuda to determine if the patient is a candidate prior to them making the trip to Toronto," she explained.

"We are actually a full service eye facility and that differentiates us from other laser eye centres because we not only do laser surgery, but our surgeons here do every type of eye surgery."

Some patients up to their early 20s might not qualify for the procedure because of their age, as their eyes are still changing. However, the oldest patient seen at Bochner was 76 year old.

They carefully screen their patients and say there is little risk with the procedures PRK and Lasik which they perform using Excimer laser technology, which restores clear vision to people with near-sightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.

"We have two absolutely amazing lasers here and can treat to a 9mm pupil and that eliminates a lot of the problems like halos," explained the Director.

"Our Doctors are so very thorough on the screening to make sure the patients are a good candidate. If they are not we are going to tell them. We want happy patients."

Mrs. Hargreaves says she has been dealing with Bermudians for the last seven years and estimates there are about 40 who visit every year.

"They have the surgery done and are pretty functional by that evening," she states.

"A lot are coming in for the weekend. The patient flies here, has the procedure one day, the next day they come back for one follow up visit and then usually flies home after that. The doctor in Bermuda sees them one week later, then a month, three months and six months and he continues to fax us post operative reports and we are tracking that patient's progress the whole time."

Laser surgery was performed in Canada-still sees a lot of US patients. Their fees range from Cnd$1,900 to Cnd$2,400 per eye, with the high end of the fee including pre and post care fees, service which the patient can also have their own doctor perform.

"That's why we have so much success with Bermuda, there are so many people telling people. Word of mouth is very powerful.

"We had one lady yesterday (from Bermuda) who flew in from Hawaii on her way back to Bermuda, had her procedure done and was back home to Bermuda today."