THE HERALD REPORTS

Rugby star has his sights set on clear 20:20 vision on the pitch
CHRIS WATT May 28 2009

NERVOUS: Scotland centre Max Evans prepares for eye surgery which, he hopes, will remove the need to wear contact lenses during games. Picture: James Galloway
One of Scottish rugby's fastest-rising stars has set his sights on Six Nations glory - and the view is sharper than ever.

Scotland centre Max Evans is today recovering from laser eye surgery to correct the short-sightedness that has troubled him since childhood.

As The Herald joined him for the operation in Glasgow, he said he was looking forward to becoming one of the thousands of Scots who undergo the procedure each year.

Just hours after leaving the clinic in Glasgow's Silverburn shopping centre, 25-year-old Evans said his vision had improved beyond all expectations. Although he was still feeling a little discomfort the next day, he is on track to achieve a full recovery within the next week.


Evans, a winger with Glasgow Warriors who last year won his place in the Scotland squad alongside his brother, Thom, is currently ruled out of competitive rugby with an injury to his knee. The four-month break from sport presented a perfect opportunity to undergo optical treatment with no risks to his fitness, he said.

As he prepared to undergo surgery at the Optical Express clinic on Wednesday, Evans admitted to feeling slightly nervous about the procedure but remained confident that it would be worth the trouble.

He said: "Without my contact lenses I can't make out a thing, and there have been a few situations where I've lost one on the pitch and it's taken maybe a minute - which is a long time in a rugby game - for a physiotherapist to get on with another lens.

"It's a nightmare, because while that's going on you have the distortion of seeing out of one eye but not the other."

Although Max Evans has never lost a contact during a Scotland game, an international match was held up last year when Thom, a regular in the Scottish back line, lost both of his lenses in the on-pitch rough and tumble.

While a few players have chosen to wear prescription goggles on the field, most sports stars favour contacts during games. In the current Scotland squad several players - including John Barclay and Graeme Morrison - rely on contacts, while Dougie Hall also underwent corrective laser surgery last year.

Just one day after his 15-minute operation, however, Evans said he was "completely blown away" by the improvement in his vision.

Recovering at home yesterday, he said: "My eyes are amazing today. I went in this morning for a post-op check-up and the vision in my left eye was better than 20:20 while the right was 20:20. This will help my game massively."

The operation had been uncomfortable and surreal, Evans added, but the pain was outweighed by the benefit.

"Afterwards it was a bit stingy, like you had onions in your eyes. They were a bit scratchy overnight, but now they're getting better and better by the hour," he said.

"If anything was uncomfortable during the procedure it was the clip keeping your eyes open.

The eyes are anaesthetised but you can still see them cutting your eyes. It was pretty surreal. You can see them touching your eyes but you can't feel a thing."

Surgeon David Teenan, who carried out the procedure for Optical Express, said he had personally performed nearly 10,000 such operations.

Laser surgery has been available in Scotland for 20 years now, and is more popular than ever. An individual surgeon will work on more than 20 patients in a single day, Mr Teenan said.

He added: "It never ceases to amaze me the number of patients that continue to come in. You think you must get to a saturation point eventually but things change - younger people are suddenly desperate to get it. Everyone seems to want it done now, and people are even talking about it at parties."

This article was originally posted on 28-May-2009, 07:40 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 28-May-2009, 07:42.