A Marlborough-based eye specialist has turned a personal health struggle into a growing business that is now helping patients both online and in person.
Dr Radka Toms, originally from the Czech Republic, was working in Australia in 2012 when she developed rosacea — a chronic condition affecting the skin and eyes.
At the time, her medical training pointed towards a conventional course of treatment. But faced with the prospect of long-term antibiotics while breastfeeding and planning another child, she decided to look elsewhere.
“I didn’t want that route,” she said. “So I started asking different questions.”
What followed was a shift in thinking that would eventually reshape her career. Rather than focusing solely on the eyes, she began exploring wider links between diet, inflammation and overall health.
Research into sugar and its role in inflammation proved a turning point. After making significant changes to her diet, she says her symptoms gradually eased, with a full recovery taking around seven months.
That experience led her to further study, including courses with Cornell University and the Institute for Functional Medicine, and a broader approach to patient care.
Instead of treating eye conditions in isolation, she now looks at lifestyle factors such as nutrition, stress and sleep — an approach she describes as addressing root causes rather than symptoms.
From there, she launched My Sugar Stop, an online platform offering support for people with conditions such as rosacea through a nutrition-led programme.
Now settled in Wiltshire, Dr Toms also sees patients face-to-face through clinics at Matrix Eye Clinic and a second site in Kent, combining traditional ophthalmology with what she describes as a more holistic perspective.
Alongside her clinical work, she runs an online support community which has attracted a growing following, reflecting wider interest in alternative approaches to long-term conditions.
While her methods sit outside mainstream treatment pathways, she says the results seen in some patients — including improvements in symptoms and overall wellbeing — have reinforced her belief in a broader view of health.
For Dr Toms, what began as a personal challenge has become something more outward-facing: a way of rethinking how eye conditions are understood — and, in some cases, managed.
