diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index b12e0a6..bbfcbb1 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ name = "mark"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "comrak",
- "regex",
+ "nom",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -454,6 +454,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "simd-adler32",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "nom"
+version = "8.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "df9761775871bdef83bee530e60050f7e54b1105350d6884eb0fb4f46c2f9405"
+dependencies = [
+ "memchr",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "num-conv"
 version = "0.2.2"
@@ -658,18 +667,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "regex"
-version = "1.12.4"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "f1292b7759ae1cb9ec195452d1390a074f0cd8541ab7a5a8c31cd6db45d4a6ba"
-dependencies = [
- "aho-corasick",
- "memchr",
- "regex-automata",
- "regex-syntax",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "regex-automata"
 version = "0.4.14"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 1b0a471..e9d9103 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ mark = { path = "mark" }
 
 [profile.release]
 strip = true
-lto = true
+panic = "abort"
+lto = "fat"
 codegen-units = 1
 
diff --git a/mark/Cargo.toml b/mark/Cargo.toml
index e3d4c12..c571713 100644
--- a/mark/Cargo.toml
+++ b/mark/Cargo.toml
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@ edition = "2024"
 
 [dependencies]
 comrak = "0.52.0"
-regex = "1.12.4"
+nom = "8"
diff --git a/mark/src/image.rs b/mark/src/image.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e2c804a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mark/src/image.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+use comrak::html::{ChildRendering, Context, dangerous_url};
+use comrak::nodes::NodeLink;
+use nom::branch::alt;
+use nom::bytes::tag;
+
+use nom::Parser;
+use nom::character::complete::digit1;
+use nom::combinator::{eof, map_res, opt};
+use std::fmt;
+use std::fmt::{Display, Write};
+
+enum ImgDimension {
+    Px(u32),
+    Percent(u32),
+}
+
+impl Display for ImgDimension {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            Self::Px(n) => write!(f, "{n}px"),
+            Self::Percent(n) => write!(f, "{n}%"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+struct SithImg<'a> {
+    url: &'a str,
+    width: Option<ImgDimension>,
+    height: Option<ImgDimension>,
+}
+
+struct ParseDimensionError;
+
+/// Given a querystring that may contain image dimensions,
+/// parse it and return the result
+///
+/// ## Note
+///
+/// If the dimension string is valid, it will always contain the image width.
+/// However, the height is optional.
+fn parse_dimensions(s: &str) -> Result<(ImgDimension, Option<ImgDimension>), ParseDimensionError> {
+    fn parse_dim(dim: &str) -> Result<(&str, ImgDimension), ParseDimensionError> {
+        let parsed = (
+            map_res(digit1::<_, (_, _)>, str::parse),
+            opt(alt((eof, tag("%"), tag("px")))),
+        )
+            .parse(dim);
+        let Ok((remaining, (val, unit))) = parsed else {
+            return Err(ParseDimensionError);
+        };
+        match unit {
+            Some("%") => Ok((remaining, ImgDimension::Percent(val))),
+            None | Some("px") | Some("") => Ok((remaining, ImgDimension::Px(val))),
+            _ => Err(ParseDimensionError),
+        }
+    }
+    let (remaining, width) = parse_dim(s)?;
+    let height = if let Some(stripped) = remaining.strip_prefix("x") {
+        Some(parse_dim(stripped)?.1)
+    } else {
+        None
+    };
+
+    Ok((width, height))
+}
+
+impl<'a> From<&'a str> for SithImg<'a> {
+    fn from(s: &'a str) -> Self {
+        // if the url contained dimension instructions, remove the query part
+        // else, leave the url untouched
+        if let Some((url, query)) = s.rsplit_once('?')
+            && let Ok((width, height)) = parse_dimensions(query)
+        {
+            Self {
+                url,
+                width: Some(width),
+                height,
+            }
+        } else {
+            Self {
+                url: s,
+                width: None,
+                height: None,
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Render an image, with eventual size modifiers.
+///
+/// This is basically a copy-paste of the comrack `render_image` function,
+/// with some code added
+pub(crate) fn render_image<T>(
+    context: &mut Context<T>,
+    entering: bool,
+    nl: &NodeLink,
+) -> Result<ChildRendering, fmt::Error> {
+    if entering {
+        let img_data = SithImg::from(nl.url.as_str());
+        if context.options.render.figure_with_caption {
+            context.write_str("<figure>")?;
+        }
+        context.write_str("<img src=\"")?;
+        if !dangerous_url(img_data.url) {
+            context.escape_href(img_data.url)?;
+        }
+        if img_data.width.is_some() || img_data.height.is_some() {
+            context.write_str("\" style=\"")?;
+            if let Some(width) = img_data.width {
+                write!(context, "width:{}", width)?;
+            }
+            if let Some(height) = img_data.height {
+                write!(context, ";height:{}", height)?;
+            }
+        }
+        context.write_str("\" alt=\"")?;
+        return Ok(ChildRendering::Plain);
+    } else {
+        if !nl.title.is_empty() {
+            context.write_str("\" title=\"")?;
+            context.escape(&nl.title)?;
+        }
+        context.write_str("\" />")?;
+        if context.options.render.figure_with_caption {
+            if !nl.title.is_empty() {
+                context.write_str("<figcaption>")?;
+                context.escape(&nl.title)?;
+                context.write_str("</figcaption>")?;
+            }
+            context.write_str("</figure>")?;
+        }
+    }
+
+    Ok(ChildRendering::HTML)
+}
diff --git a/mark/src/lib.rs b/mark/src/lib.rs
index ec052fc..ad52d08 100644
--- a/mark/src/lib.rs
+++ b/mark/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,14 +1,9 @@
-use comrak::html::{ChildRendering, Context, dangerous_url};
-use comrak::nodes::{NodeLink, NodeValue};
+mod image;
+
+use crate::image::render_image;
+use comrak::nodes::NodeValue;
 use comrak::options::{Extension, Parse, Render};
 use comrak::{Arena, Options, create_formatter, parse_document};
-use regex::Regex;
-use std::fmt;
-use std::fmt::Write;
-use std::sync::LazyLock;
-
-const DIMENSION_PATTERN: &str = r"^(?P<width>\d+(%|px)?)(x(?P<height>\d+(%|px)?))?$";
-static DIMENSION_RE: LazyLock<Regex> = LazyLock::new(|| Regex::new(DIMENSION_PATTERN).unwrap());
 
 #[inline(always)]
 fn options<'a>() -> Options<'a> {
@@ -22,8 +17,6 @@ fn options<'a>() -> Options<'a> {
             footnotes: true,
             description_lists: true,
             multiline_block_quotes: true,
-            math_dollars: true,
-            math_code: true,
             shortcodes: true,
             underline: true,
             subscript: true,
@@ -37,71 +30,12 @@ fn options<'a>() -> Options<'a> {
             ..Default::default()
         },
         render: Render {
+            escape: true,
             ..Default::default()
         },
     }
 }
 
-/// Render an image, with eventual size modifiers.
-///
-/// This is basically a copy-paste of the comrack `render_image` function,
-/// with some code added
-fn render_image<T>(
-    context: &mut Context<T>,
-    entering: bool,
-    nl: &NodeLink,
-) -> Result<ChildRendering, fmt::Error> {
-    if entering {
-        if context.options.render.figure_with_caption {
-            context.write_str("<figure>")?;
-        }
-        context.write_str("<img src=\"")?;
-        let url = nl.url.split('?').next().unwrap();
-        if context.options.render.r#unsafe || !dangerous_url(url) {
-            if let Some(rewriter) = &context.options.extension.image_url_rewriter {
-                context.escape_href(&rewriter.to_html(&nl.url))?;
-            } else {
-                context.escape_href(url)?;
-            }
-        }
-        context.write_str("\" alt=\"")?;
-        return Ok(ChildRendering::Plain);
-    } else {
-        if !nl.title.is_empty() {
-            context.write_str("\" title=\"")?;
-            context.escape(&nl.title)?;
-        }
-        if let Some((_url, query)) = nl.url.rsplit_once('?')
-            && let Some(caps) = DIMENSION_RE.captures(query)
-        {
-            context.write_str("\" style=\"")?;
-
-            for dim in ["width", "height"] {
-                if let Some(val) = caps.name(dim) {
-                    context.write_str(dim)?;
-                    context.write_char(':')?;
-                    context.write_str(val.as_str())?;
-                    if !val.as_str().ends_with('%') && !val.as_str().ends_with("px") {
-                        context.write_str("px")?;
-                    }
-                    context.write_char(';')?;
-                }
-            }
-        }
-        context.write_str("\" />")?;
-        if context.options.render.figure_with_caption {
-            if !nl.title.is_empty() {
-                context.write_str("<figcaption>")?;
-                context.escape(&nl.title)?;
-                context.write_str("</figcaption>")?;
-            }
-            context.write_str("</figure>")?;
-        }
-    }
-
-    Ok(ChildRendering::HTML)
-}
-
 create_formatter!(CustomFormatter, {
     NodeValue::Image(ref nl) => |context, entering| {
         return render_image(context, entering, nl);
@@ -122,7 +56,8 @@ pub fn markdown(s: &str) -> String {
         }
     }
 
-    let mut html = String::new();
+    // html result will be at least as long as md input, so let's allocate that
+    let mut html = String::with_capacity(s.len());
     CustomFormatter::format_document(root, &options, &mut html).unwrap();
     html
 }