There comes a moment in your life when you can no longer put off the inevitable, the years off denial are over and, whether you like it or not, you need to start wearing glasses. For me, that moment came at football match between Middlesburgh and Fulham in February 2002.

My memory of the day is so clear because my vision was anything but and it is an embarrassing story I am frequently reminded about by my peers. It was also one of my first matches for The Journal as a sportswriter, a job which inevitably requires you to be able to see what is happening in a game or a race and which often requires you to be able to identify the players and participants from the back of an impressive stand.

In short, it is not a job for the short-sighted which, unfortunately, is exactly what I had become. Sitting at the back of the Riverside Stadium, I was already struggling to read the numbers on the back of the players’ shirts but put this down to the poor design of the shirt.  But when the Croatian striker Alen Boksic scored midway through the first half my vision was so bad that I wrote on my pad that Paul lnce had scored the game’s opening goal.

It was only when a colleague sat next to me burst out laughing that I realised my mistake.

Mistakes, in my line of work do happen and goalscorers can be confused without the benefit of a television replay, but mistaking a white player (Boksic) for a black one (Ince) was inexcusable. A couple of weeks later, I was the not-so-proud owner of my first pair of glasses, which I used for driving and watching games for almost five years without too much hardship.

The problems came as my eyesight deteriorated further. Gradually I needed my glasses to watch television in the house, despite the purchase of a 24- inch widescreen set. But I really knew I was in trouble when I could no longer recognise people waving to me on the other side of the street or read the menu on the wall in a restaurant.

A lot of my friends recommended contact lenses, but I hated the idea of putting things in my eyes and the hassle of taking them out every night before I went to bed. Like most people I had heard of laser surgery through television adverts and I had also discussed what was involved with Paul Collingwood, the Durham and England cricketer.

Obviously, good vision is essential to cricket, whether you are batting, bowling or fielding and Collingwood had undergone surgery on his eyes because he was fed up with losing his contact lenses during games. It has, as his recent heroics on England’s tour of Australia illustrate, been a great success.

Despite his and other people reassurances, however, I was still nervous about the prospect of allowing someone to fire a laser beam into my eye. It seemed too extreme and dangerous and conjured up images of James Bond in Goldfinger when he is strapped to a steel table and a laser slowly cuts through the metal and heads in the direction of his groin.

These fears, though, were quickly dismissed after a chat with a counsellor at Optical Express who explained the type of laser used was far different.

I was, however, also left in no doubt about what lay ahead of me if I opted for surgery. I would have to undergo rigorous testing of my eyesight and my eyes to determine whether I was suitable for the operation and there are a variety of reasons why people are not reasons which may only become apparent through Optical Express’ own tests.

I was also warned that, as laser eye surgery is a medical procedure, there is the potential, albeit small (less than 1%), risk of complications, The optometrist and opthalmologist confirmed the majority are minor and all complications can be managed. I am glad they informed me of this. I’d rather be aware of this risk beforehand rather than to my cost afterwards.

Perhaps the worst aspect of the surgery are the moments leading up to the operation. When you arrive you have to read a sheet explaining everything that could go wrong and sign to say you understand them. It’s a little unsettling you do a similar thing before a bungee jump but the risks are minimal and the benefits huge.

The surgery itself is, I must stress, physically painless, but it is uncomfortable and unnerving. No matter how many times you are reassured, when your eyes are clamped open and a laser is shined into them, you are bound to feel a little awkward and apprehensive.

But then it is over, the whole thing took around 20 minutes and a new life begins. I was in some pain and discomfort for an hour or so when I got home - if you have ever been poked in the eye you will have a good idea of what I mean - but once I had fallen asleep for an hour the pain disappeared.

By that evening, the blurred vision had gone and I watched EastEnders without a pair of glasses for the first time in years. Over the next few days I followed a strict course of eye drops, which for the first couple of days ate required every two hours, but it was a small inconvenience compared to putting in and removing contact lenses every day for the rest of my life.

As for watching football, I covered my first game since surgery last week and I’m delighted to say I didn’t miss a thing.

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