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It’s incredible, just how much difference a simple $30 eye operation can make.
Today at Hope 103.2 we heard first-hand accounts about how people in developing nations are being impacted every day, through cataract removal surgeries.
Dr Ian Francis, OAM, is an eye surgeon who has operated on eyes around the world, and has seen countless lives being changed.
“I’ve worked in Nepal and West Africa and Burma,” he said. “Cataracts I’ve seen in third world places are usually dark brown or black, and the patient can barely see their hand in front of their face. So it completely inhibits them doing anything normal. They mightn’t know what their grandchildren look like, until they have the operation.”
Dr Francis, who worked on the Trachoma Programme with Fred Hollows, told the Hope team that seeing the impact after someone has just received their sight back, is “truly amazing”.
“Generally the results are spectacularly good, and people improve to the way they were when they were 20,” he said.
Why Is It So Easy To Cure Cataract Blindness?
A cataract is a cloudy discoloration in the lens of the eye that stops light from getting through to the retina, thus blocking sight.
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To fix it, a surgeon removes the natural lens and replaces it with one made of silicone or acrylic.
Dr Francis – who is a Christian and a supporter of Hope 103.2 – told the on-air team that the surgery is cheap to do in developing nations, because it is so simple. But it requires skilled surgeons to carry it out.
“The treatment is relatively simple, but there’s not much room for error,” he explained. “It can be trivialised because it’s a significant operation. We use a microscope. There’s about a millimetre or two to move and it’s possible to get it wrong. If it goes well, it’s great. If it doesn’t, it’s bad.”
“Like Jesus”: Making Blind Men See In Africa
Another Hope 103.2 listener and supporter who has seen up close the difference an eye surgery can make, is Anne McKeown.
She worked in Zimbabwe as a volunteer with a cataract surgery project, helping elderly African people with cataracts in both eyes.
As a project leader assisting the surgeons with their work, Anne saw many surgeries first hand.
“The first man [in the project] that got his sight back, looked at me and said, “Oh my God you are like Jesus, you have made the blind man see!”,” she said.
While Anne insisted to the man that she was nothing of the sort, she used the story as an illustration of the impact cataract operations can have.
“That’s the power of the operations,” she said.
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