Sight restored by eye surgery (From Echo)

Sight restored by eye surgery

10:00pm Wednesday 10th November 2010 in Health By Hannah Marsh

A WOMAN from Westcliff has become one of the first patients in Essex to undergo pioneering new eye surgery to restore her sight.

Susan Neale, 65, of Station Road, Westcliff feared the worst when her eyesight suddenly began to deteriorate.

“It was like looking through a net curtain, that’s the only way I can describe it,” she explains. “I definitely was getting nervous about driving and I knew I wouldn’t be able to for much longer.

“I couldn’t not drive. You don’t realise how precious your eyes really are.”

A visit to the opticians confirmed her fears when she was diagnosed with cataracts and told she would have to go under the knife.

But it was at that point her optician suggested the possibility of the new surgery – which involves the removal and replacement of the eye’s lenses with a synthetic version.

She made an appointment to see eye surgeon Rajesh Aggarwal at BMI Southend Private Hospital and he scheduled her in for the operation.

“I was absolutely terrified,” says Susan. “You have one done and then you go back the following week. You’re not put to sleep, you just have eye drops which anaesthetises the eye and then you walk into the operating theatre and he does it.

“You can’t really see anything, just bright lights, and you feel a pressure.”

The operation aimed to not just remove her cataracts but to replace her natural lens with a new one – LENTIS Mplus – so that her sight would be restored.

After the operation Susan was delighted to be able to see clearly once more.

“It was amazing,” she says. “Everything was so clear and bright, that’s the only way I can describe it.

“I couldn’t wait to have the other one done. It was absolutely amazing and I’ve had no trouble since, in fact I would say my eyesight is better and clearer now than it’s ever been. It was almost a miracle.

“Reading is the main thing it’s helped with. You need reading for everything, the newspaper, the telephone directory, and I don’t have to wear my reading glasses anymore.”