But now I see

[MajGenl.Meade]

I turned 61 in December and of course that makes me wiser than in November so the grey fog of my left eye began to seem to me to need some kind of attention. Johan, who gave us our first accommodation in SA back in 2009 when we arrived, is also an opthalmologist. Which I think means he sits in hides on weekends and spots opthals. Anyway, I took my eye (well both of them) to him in January and he confirmed that yes, that's called fogged-up-eye or a cataract. If it bothered me, it was probably worth surgery but maybe it would be OK for months. The right eye was clear.

Two weeks later the left eye was really bothering me - the deterioration was amazingly swift. So it was eye surgery for me and was I horrified - local anaesthetic! Biggest worry was that I would tell Johan a joke at the wrong moment and his hand would shake - either that or he'd have the heart attack or the moment of absolute madness because this morning Alette had ruined his fried eggs. Eish! Everyone told me "You can't see a thing" but that's what I was afraid of.

Long story short, as my Afrikaner friends say when they get really boring, the left eye was done a couple of weeks ago - the next day I found out that there was a world of colour and sharpness and amazing other things that I have never seen, even with eye-glasses. In the last 2 years new lenses have been developed to correct astygmatism - my left eye can now (for the first time ever) actually see things without correction! I took my right eye there last week - in just a month an operable cataract had formed and so the balancing act was completed last Monday, three days ago. Here I am, no more spectacles,with crystal clear vision at distance. I will still need glasses for reading - but those cheap pharmacy ones will be fine. And I can discard my computer mid-distance specs completely.

So I've decided this. I'm not one who believes that God answers prayers for auntie Mary's twisted ankle to get better - it either does or it doesn't and either way He's in charge. My Christian friends here are very dubious about my rejection of miracles of healing. But this I think is the miracle - God created man (and woman) with a capacity to learn, to discover and to harness skills and talents in science and medicine so that what was (once) totally "against the normal course of nature" becomes "natural". And I'm grateful to people like Johan who put their skills to work and make a tremendous contribution to the world quietly. He and his father-in-law have both done long missionary years performing free eye surgery in remote parts of Africa.

The day after surgery, the same five patients who met yesterday for the first time waiting for their ops come together again at Johan's office, one or both eyes covered, for the unveiling. Standing there, watching the old black lady shuffle along helped by son and grandsons as she moves from total darkness into a new day of vision for the first time in forty years, we all smiled and laughed and shook hands.

Pity the one guy wore a Kaiser Chiefs shirt though. Siwelele sa masele!

Meade

PS the operation is a piece of cake - what on earth was I worried about? Actually I fell asleep during the first left eye op. And I didn't watch the cataract surgery video on Yew Chewb until after the right was done. Very glad not to have watched it before or I might still be in cloud world

[Gob]

Thanks for the update Meade!

[Timster]

Thank you that update Sir. And do we need any more evidence that there is a higher power at work? I am certain that some individuals may not see it that way. However I am very happy to believe. And I am thankful that your sight has been restored. God bless. And may the force be with you.

[Lord Jim]

Great story Gen'l, glad everything went so well.

Glad to see you didn't fall to your knees in front of portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il praising them for restoring your sight, as happened in a documentary I recently watched about a team of doctors who went to perform cataract operations in North Korea....

Though I imagine there was probably very little chance of your doing that...

[Sue U]

So I've decided this. I'm not one who believes that God answers prayers for auntie Mary's twisted ankle to get better - it either does or it doesn't and either way He's in charge. My Christian friends here are very dubious about my rejection of miracles of healing. But this I think is the miracle - God created man (and woman) with a capacity to learn, to discover and to harness skills and talents in science and medicine so that what was (once) totally "against the normal course of nature" becomes "natural". And I'm grateful to people like Johan who put their skills to work and make a tremendous contribution to the world quietly. He and his father-in-law have both done long missionary years performing free eye surgery in remote parts of Africa.

We'll make a secular humanist of you yet!

Glad to hear you had such good results.

A lifetime ago, I was an editor for a group of eye surgery publications, including one on cataract surgery, and first day on the job they gave me some videos of various surgeries to watch. Once you get past the initial "OMG, he's sticking a knife in that eye!" it's really quite fascinating.

[kristina]

Wonderful news, MajGenl!

I was 7 or 8 when my grandfather had cataract surgery, and I remember him saying (after the surgery) "So that's what you all look like!"

[Crackpot]

I hppe he didn't follow it up with... and damn you're ugly.

[kristina]

[rubato]

I had my 2nd cataract surgery 2 years and 4 months ago. By coincidence, I am having a laser procedure done on that eye today. There is a common problem following cataract surgery where the back of the capsule which holds the lens becomes cloudy from cells 'sticking' to it. I don't know the details of the mechanism but its probably due to the prosthesis* 20-30% of cases. It gets me out of the lab for a day anyway.


By another coincidence I am sending my latest patent bonus (just paid out 2 weeks ago) to Gimbie Adventist hospital where I expect they will do good work with it.


yrs,
rubato

They use an acrylic plastic which is very very very cheap but turns yellow over time after exposure to UV. I make better optical polymers than that at work, as do many other people, and I can't figure out why they're not using them. Inertia? The opthamologist was surprised to hear that nearly all organic materials turn yellow under UV and that alternatives were available, but not used by the prosthesis makers. Weird.

[loCAtek]

A-ten-HUT! Yesser, if you didn't see it, it means, we didn't do it, nossir!

[The Hen]

I am glad everything was sucessful.

Huzzah.

[rubato]

Didn't work. The doc said that the laser wasn't focussing correctly. Wasted a day and put up with the laser aftermath. Still have to go back.


mph.

yrs,
rubato

[Sue U]

They use an acrylic plastic which is very very very cheap but turns yellow over time after exposure to UV. I make better optical polymers than that at work, as do many other people, and I can't figure out why they're not using them. Inertia? The opthamologist was surprised to hear that nearly all organic materials turn yellow under UV and that alternatives were available, but not used by the prosthesis makers. Weird.

Well there's a business opportunity for you, then. Here's a list of all the IOL manufacturers, each linked to their product specs. Sell them on some new polymers and, given the volume of cataract surgery, you could be rich beyond your dreams.

[Scooter]

They use an acrylic plastic which is very very very cheap but turns yellow over time after exposure to UV. I make better optical polymers than that at work, as do many other people, and I can't figure out why they're not using them. Inertia? The opthamologist was surprised to hear that nearly all organic materials turn yellow under UV and that alternatives were available, but not used by the prosthesis makers. Weird.

IOLs have been made with UV filters ever since it was realized that people who had cataract surgery were at increased risk of AMD and other retinal diseases, because UV light that would have been filtered by the natural lens was passing right through the artificial lens and hitting the retina. Earlier filters were in the form of a coating on the surface of the lens, later they somehow infused UV blockers into the lens material itself, how I do not profess to know. But it would seem to me that UV light would not have the same effect on a lens constructed with a UV filter.

Within the past ten years or some some lenses have been made with a yellow pigment in order to block high energy blue light, which is also implicated in AMD, as well as UV. Some people have claimed that it changes their colour perception; in response a lens was developed that will turn yellow in sunlight and then revert to clear indoors.

[Rick]

It would be neat to get those color changing lenses, the brand eludes me.

It would sure hurt the sunglass industry though, LOL...

[Joe Guy]

If you're talking about implanted lens being able to change color, it wouldn't be a good thing. The lens need to be clear as possible. Also, if they were to work like current lenses that get darker in the sunlight, they would not change quickly enough when a person goes inside to a darker room after being outdoors.

[Scooter]

It's not changing colour like a sunglass lens. It's acquiring a faint yellow tint that is the best filter for UV and blue light. At worst people wearing them will experience a few seconds of what those who wear the normal yellow-tinted lens see all the time.

[Crackpot]

IIRC those don't dim anywhere near as much or start off as opaque as the glassed do.

[Joe Guy]

Scooter, I was responding to Keld's post. I think he was saying that it would be nice to have IOLs that were like sunglasses that get dark in the sun.

[Rick]

Transition lenses is what I was thinking of.

Per the usual I was not actually serious...