There is one question Anita Bauer has heard more often in her career than any of her colleagues. It has nothing to do with eyes, glasses or laser procedures.
It goes something like this: "How old are you, exactly?"
The physically small, delicate woman behind the examination desk has made more than one client pause and wonder. Some have even assumed they were sitting across from a teenager. Anita has been advised to wear makeup to look older.
"I've tried," she admits. "But it doesn't feel right — it's not me."
Instead, she chose another way: speed, precision and thoroughness. And at some point something remarkable happened — the questions about her age and qualifications simply disappeared.
"When I've done my job well, in the end there are no questions left."
This is the story of an optometrist who doesn't expect trust — she earns it. Every single time. Exactly the way she learned on the ice, where she grew up.
Discipline learned on the ice
Before Anita Bauer sat down behind an optometrist's desk, she spent years in the ice rink. Figure skating is a sport where you polish the same jump thousands of times, where every millimetre counts, and where falling is not failure — it is part of the process. You fall, you get up, you try again.
We ask how that discipline carries over into working with eyes.
"I don't give up," Anita says. "Not personally, and not when a client has an eye problem."
Then she immediately adds an honest qualification that says more about her than any diploma: "I have the limits of my own knowledge, like every one of us. But fortunately I have contacts and knowledge of where to refer people further."
She expects the same determination from her clients — and helps them find it.
"I always encourage clients not to give up, and to be determined, detailed and thorough in explaining what they want. That determines whether the journey and the end result are something they'll be happy with."
"One step more" — a gift from her coaches
At KSA, everyone knows one thing about Anita: with every patient, she always does a little more than she strictly has to. We ask where that habit comes from.
"It definitely comes from figure skating, and from there it grew into a demandingness towards myself — it has become part of my character," she answers.
"My coaches always taught me: if you want to be a leader and win, you have to do more in every training session and in everything than your competition — or than you yourself did yesterday."
More than you yourself did yesterday. That sentence could hang on the wall of every exam room.
And what would happen if she dropped that "one step more"?
"I can't imagine a world where I would leave it out. I wouldn't feel like myself anymore."
The workday that ends only symbolically
Most of us close the door at five and go home. Anita closes the door only symbolically — her patients stay in her head until the case is truly solved.
Is that a burden? Here Anita gives an answer that deserves separate thanks — because it is remarkably honest.
"For a very long time, I was burning out," she says plainly. "Now I've learned to filter information and emotions better. Experience works miracles."
That sentence holds the whole story: caring is not free. But you can learn to carry it in a way that doesn't break you. And for the patient it means one thing — their case doesn't get filed away at five o'clock.
Working in tandem with an eye surgeon as a strength
Anyone who has seen how KSA works internally knows: Anita is one of the most active seekers of second opinions. Her examinations often land in the inboxes of eye surgeons Dr. Ants Haavel and Dr. Karl-Erik Tillmann with the question: have a look — what do you say?
You could mistake that for insecurity. In reality, it is exactly the opposite.
"Sometimes it's simply that the patient themselves wants a doctor to review the examination results," Anita explains. "But sometimes I want to consult someone whose training is a little different from an optometrist's — they can look at things differently and advise based on their knowledge and experience."
"I never think I'm smarter or better than others. This kind of collaboration helps me grow my experience faster and gives the patient the best possible solution."
So when does she message a colleague? What is the moment in an examination when she thinks: I want to check this before I say it out loud?
"When a finding is unusual and I have no previous experience with it."
And then she adds a sentence that should reassure anyone who fears that an eye clinic just wants to "sell" a procedure:
"My goal is not to refer everyone to the procedure — only those for whom it truly is a fit, and who want to take that journey with us."
Trust earned through precision
Now, back to that first question — age, appearance, first impressions.
Some colleagues walk into the room and the client automatically thinks: "That's a doctor." Anita's key is different. When did she herself realise she had "arrived"?
"I understood I had arrived when clients stopped asking how old I am, or whether I have professional training at all," she recalls. "That happened back when I was working as the manager of a Zeiss Vision Center."
"Regardless of my appearance — many people thought, and sometimes still think, that I'm very young — what carried me forward was speed, precision and thoroughness in solving problems."
She makes no secret of the fact that this work is never finished: "To this day I feel that I have to take an extra step to win trust."
But this is exactly where Anita is different. To her, the extra step is not an injustice to complain about. It is simply another training session.
"I believe my strengths are professionalism, communication and thoroughness."
The Helsinki school and a manager's eye
Anita trained at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences — and she has worked in the optical field both as an optometrist and as a manager. Two backgrounds you rarely find together in an Estonian exam room.
What did Finland teach her?
"For me it was a completely different world, especially in terms of attitude — among both students and lecturers," she says. "The studies in Helsinki were very extensive, harder, more thorough and more detailed. That's where my thoroughness, attention to detail and desire to work together with doctors come from."
And the management experience?
"Thanks to that experience I understand people much better. I see both what happens 'out front' and what stays 'behind the scenes', and I analyse situations differently. Day to day it shows in the fact that I often already sense what a person is going to say, and I understand their experience more deeply."
For the patient this means an optometrist who doesn't just see eyes — she sees the person, their expectations, and even the things they leave unsaid.
The case that changed her perspective
We ask whether there has been one patient or one finding that taught her something no university or previous job ever did.
"Yes," Anita answers. "How full correction — even correcting a small cylinder, astigmatism — can influence slowing down the progression of myopia, in adults as well as in children."
It is a clinical observation with a big idea behind it: small details that are easy to "round off" can change the trajectory of a person's vision for years. Precision in millimetres — sound familiar? What was learned on the ice works behind the phoropter too.
Flow3 through her own eyes
Anita stands out in one more way: she has been through the Flow3 procedure herself. In a conversation with a patient, she isn't speaking only from clinical knowledge — she knows in her own body what the experience is.
What did she fear most? The same thing almost every one of her patients fears.
"A very large share of people are afraid of the procedure day itself. I was most afraid of that day too," she admits.
"It turned out there's no point in fearing it. If you want to 'fear' something, then rather fear not following all the aftercare instructions properly," she smiles.
"Joking aside — you really don't have to be afraid. It adds nothing. Life is simply easier if you take it calmly and don't overthink. The reason is simple: we do almost everything for you."
A letter to the reader who hesitates
Finally, we asked Anita to say something to the reader who is hesitating — is the laser procedure for her, can she trust, is now the right moment. In the tone she would use with a girlfriend on the ice.
Her answer deserves to be quoted in full:
"Being afraid is normal. Feeling anxious is normal. Hesitating is normal.
Write down for yourself your work life, your personal life, sport, hobbies, travel — with glasses or lenses, and without. Weigh them up. Then you will see quite clearly what the pros and cons are.
You are the one who decides. And you need to feel good about that decision."
No sales pitch. No pressure. Just one very precise person recommending what she herself does every day — go through the details carefully, and don't give up until the solution is in hand.
A figure skater knows: the jump succeeds when every detail is in place. Anita Bauer makes sure that with your eyes, it is.
Anita Bauer is an optometrist at KSA Eye Center (KSA Silmakeskus). She trained at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, has worked in the optical field as both an optometrist and a manager, and has undergone the Flow3 laser procedure herself.
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