A CULCHETH pensioner is seeing the world differently -- thanks to revolutionary eye treatment.

Usually growing older goes hand in hand with deteriorating eyesight -- but at the age of 69 retired hospital worker Elizabeth Oddie has thrown away her specs after having laser eye surgery.

Elizabeth's eyesight began to fail 46 years ago, while she was inspecting small electrical components at a factory near Manchester, and she had to start wearing glasses.

During the 16 years she later spent working with mentally handicapped children and adults at a former hospital in Culcheth her vision became poorer and the lenses on her glasses got thicker.

Elizabeth said: "I suffered from both short and long-sightedness and have had to wear bi-focals ever since I was a young woman."

But now Elizabeth can see clearly once more after receiving treatment at the Ultralase Clinic in Chester.

She said: "It's the best thing that has ever happened to me. It's better than winning the Lottery. I spotted an Ultralase advert on television, rang them up and in no time at all I'd had my eyes tested and the treatment successfully carried out.

After the treatment Elizabeth celebrated by rushing out on a mad spending spree for clothes.

She said; "It's made me feel like a new woman -- I'm on top of the world. I can now read much better and when I go dancing it's so nice to see people as plain as anything without glasses."

"When I think about it, since being in my early twenties I have spent a fortune on glasses. I wish the treatment had been about then. It's such a marvellous feeling to be without glasses again."

Famous faces like Richard Branson, TV-show Friends star Courtney Cox and singer Simon Le Bon have all undergone laser eye treatment.