Removal of Bilateral Nuclear Sclerosis Cataract
and Implantation of Intraocular Lens
by Mr. Paul Ursell MBBS MD FRCOphth

A Patient's View - My Operation by Derek Banham

I was referred to Paul Ursell by my optician after an annual eye-test revealed that I had a cataract on my left eye. At the consultation Paul confirmed that an operation could improve the sight in that eye but warned of the various risks involved with such a procedure. Having considered all these factors I decided to have the operation.

On the appointed day I was asked to get to the hospital about two hours before the  operation was scheduled.  A nurse did a series of pre-op tests  - blood pressure, pulse,  weight etc. and double-checked my medical records. She clipped a yellow band to my left wrist to confirm which eye had the cataract.   I was then given the first of four sets of eye-drops. I was visited by the anaesthetist who told me that, when I got to the Operating Theatre, I would receive a local anaesthetic and a clip would be fastened to my finger to monitor my pulse rate throughout the operation. He assured me that it would all be very easy and painless.  Then Paul Ursell arrived with a document  giving my consent to the whole procedure that I duly signed. He checked that I had brought a CD of my favourite music with me. This would be played while the operation took place to, presumably, calm my nerves.

After three more sets of eye-drops I was given a dressing gown to wear and  collected by a porter with a wheelchair. Not wishing to appear infirm I chose to walk to the theatre. On arrival I handed over my CD of Piano Quintets by Mozart and laid on the operating table. My head rested in a soft wedge-shaped pillow, my hands and arms were arranged securely and comfortably, and the clip was put on my finger. To my surprise and relief no syringe appeared to inject me with the local anaesthetic but gentle drops were put in my eye to do the job. It seemed then that a plastic sheet was placed across my face, a hole made for Paul to work through and my left eye was prepared for the operation.

I assume that my eyelids were fixed open but the anaesthetic had done its work and I felt nothing.   The effect was similar to looking at the sun with your eyes closed - the pink of the inside of the eyelid in the bright sunshine. In this case, however it is fairly certain that my left eye was wide open.

Gradually my eye got used to the light.

Then a shape dimly appeared moving towards my eye.

It seemed to be made of metal and could have been the business end of whatever instrument was going to do the job. The overall pink colour that filled my vision varied from very  pale to quite dark.

The source of the light appeared to be behind the instrument and from time to time Paul would ask me to look at this light.  The instrument moved around but never seemed to stray far from the centre of my vision.

Occasionally it would withdraw a little and the light with it but it was working away nevertheless.

All this time Mozart continued to play and Paul and his team mumbled things to one another. There was no sensation of my eye being touched in any way and the whole process was completely painless. Paul informed me that he had taken the cataract away (and my lens!) and sometime around this point it seemed that drops of water were being dropped onto my eye.

I could not feel them and, without a lens, I assumed I could not see them but my brain was definitely registering drops of liquid similar to the image above.

Eventually, after a short tussle, Paul told me that the new lens was in place.  The instrument faded away and, after a plain pink pause, I felt the apparatus around my eye being taken away.

The whole process had been without any physical discomfort of any sort.

I got off the table and was prepared to walk back to my room but they wouldn’t let me and I was put in the wheel chair.  Before I left the hospital Paul checked my eye thoroughly and seemed satisfied that all was well.  He taped a transparent shield across my eye to protect it and off I went home.

The sight in my left eye is now vastly superior to that in my right eye and I am seriously considering having the right eye fixed as well to level things up.

Written by Derek Banham (2007)