BOURNEMOUTH tattoo artists frustrated with wearing glasses have now corrected their vision – by sleeping off their bad eyesight.

Amy Billing and Abigail Rawlings say they have a greater eye for detail without having to wear glasses or contact lenses thanks to a revolutionary technique to improve their eyesight called Ortho-k.

The tailor-made lenses are worn at night to flatten the eye’s surface.

Amy, who studied Fine Arts said: “I looked at laser but with the cost it wasn’t an option. I saw this and thought it looked amazing.”

The 22-year-old, who has a prescription of -4.00 dioptres, began using the lenses seven months ago and had immediate results.

“After the first night of wearing the lenses at night I was -1.00 dioptre in the morning, and after a few nights I had perfect vision when I woke up. I can work all day and even if I am out until 3am on a Saturday night I can put my lenses in late and still see well the next day.

“I hated wearing glasses as they always slipped down when I worked, and my contact lenses used to dry out as I was staring at the same point for a long time when I work. I can spend up to eight hours on a piece of work. It is literally the best thing I have done – to be able to wake up in the morning and see – there were so many things that were awkward or inconvenient with glasses.”

Abigail tried the lenses after colleague Amy’s success.

She said: “I was recently in South East Asia and the elephants were splashing water in my face – I couldn’t have enjoyed that with contact lenses or glasses.”

Richard Taylor, the Christchurch optometrist who looks after Amy and Abigail’s vision, said Ortho-k moves the surface of the eye by less than half a hair’s width, and working much like braces on teeth can help to ensure that short-sightedness does not progress.