My patients

Movie Critic

I recently saw a patient yesterday who is, by profession, a movie critic. A terrific job to have, you might say. But not if your sight is gradually declining.

I diagnosed him with cataracts, and suggested laser cataract surgery, which I performed. After his second eye was operated on, he came for his follow up consultation. He was over the moon – he can now watch movies again – and he had forgotten how colourful movies were, as well.

China patients

When we go to China, the patients have to arrive the day before. And so, they are put up in basic hospital accommodation. Usually there’s a big fuss – they are often from very poor villages, and a professional medical team is something that is extremely unusual in their world. They actually gawk at us and ask a lot of questions.

However, there was one man who not only didn’t make a fuss, he didn’t know what was going on. He was completely blind from cataracts.

That night he was very quiet, however the next day, when they get off the operating table, he could already see – for the first time in years. We could see the ‘wonder’ in the face, even as he climbed off the operating table. That was very satisfying - curing his blindness.