An aspiring writer and cartoonist who suffered from short-sightedness for most of her life is to publish her first book after laser eye surgery.

Anneli Winter, of Goodenough Road, Wimbledon, faced the discomfort of wearing glasses for 18 years before inheriting money to afford the £3,900 operation in June.

The 28-year-old graphic design studio manager said: "It was incredible. My eyesight was better than it had been with glasses on after only a few days.

"It’s made a big difference to how I approach my cartoons because I can see much more detail than I could with my glasses and it’s more enjoyable now that I can go outside to draw in warm weather.

"When I was wearing glasses, I would get hot and sweaty underneath them so in summer weather I was forced to draw indoors."

After Optical Express launched a drawing competition to win laser eye surgery or a refund for the operation, Miss Winter sketched a special cartoon to thank staff at the Harley Street surgery.

It features Stumpy, a T-rex dinosaur who also achieves better than 20/20 vision after undergoing laser eye surgery.

The competition winner has not yet been announced, but Miss Winter’s cartoon will be included in a book about laser eye surgery. Miss Winter said: "It was just a funny thing I did. I’m working on illustrating a children’s book in my spare time.

"Being free to write and sketch without my glasses has been a new lease of life."

She hopes to publish her debut book, ‘The Widemouthed Frog’, in 2015.