Phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation

So Mr. LeCantreux, could you tell us about today's experience? How was your experience today? Well today's experience was fine. I know all about today because this is my fifth operation since a cataract operation, a routine cataract operation back in October went wrong, if I can put it like that, that the lens fractured. I see. I was told by Mrs. Kaffir, her name, the consultant, this is a very rare occurrence, maybe one in a hundred, but I was unlucky in that the lens fractured, so it had to be replaced. I have all this written down somewhere, but I can't tell you the dates, but it was something like a couple of weeks. That's okay. After the the operation. Yeah. That I realized that the site wasn't recovering properly. It may have even been on a routine follow-up and I was told by either Mr. Kiddes or Dr. Chutley that unfortunately the lens had fractured and it had to be replaced. So I then had an operation to replace the lens which involved several stitches, which I had under local anaesthetic and that wasn't particularly pleasant. When the stitching was taking place, of course I was quite conscious that something like stitching was going on inside my eye, but they did their best to minimize this with the local anaesthetic and then unfortunately the recovery didn't go as planned because the retina became detached. So then after another few weeks, Dr. Kiddes then had to operate again to reattach the retina and unfortunately that didn't work properly. So I had another operation, again under local anaesthetic, to reattach the retina and again that hasn't worked which is why I'm here today. Now, I don't know what he's actually done. He did say that there was a problem with the membrane, apparently, which was pulling the retina and he was going to cut or remove the membrane and he might also do something to cut a bit off the retina so that it would go back and sit in place properly. But I don't know whether he's done that or not because I've been under a general anaesthetic, but it's all been very well organised, the theatre staff here and so on are all very good, the nurses, and I just have to say that I'm sure they've all done a very good job because they've made me feel very welcome and very comfortable and done their best to look after me. And is this the first time you've had a cataract? No, I had the right eye done some years ago and it was absolutely fine. Immediate recovery, just a few days, my sight was back to normal with a very noticeable improvement in fact from before the operation. So I was looking forward very much to having the left eye done and it's unfortunate that it ran into these problems. So with that in mind, with both eyes having been operated on, what advice would you give to a prospective patient in the future if they're concerned or... Well, that's a difficult question. Yeah. In view of my unfortunate experience, I can't say, go somewhere else, can I? No. No, I mean, I think you put yourself in the hands of the National Health Surgeons and you just have to hope that everything goes well. It's not just an eye operation that can go wrong. Any operation can have problems and subsequent difficulties. All I can say is that the people here who've looked after me have been absolutely top class. And did anything happen today that was unexpected or did everything go as it was explained to you No, well I didn't actually know what to expect today because it was a general anaesthetic and the previous four operations have all been under a local anaesthetic, so I got quite used to the procedures there. But today's operation was a full general anaesthetic. The anaesthetist came in and chatted to me beforehand and it all went very smoothly as as far as I know. I presume the anaesthetic was delivered via this, into my bloodstream via this little gadget here. Yes. And I felt nothing and I was out very quickly. So I assume that's what should have happened. Yes. And it did. Well, I wish you a speedy recovery. Thank you very much. Mr. LeCantreau. And hopefully you will have both eyes back as you want them. Well, thank you. I did ask Dr. Walker this morning whether he thought this was going to be the final operation to fix everything and he said well of course we can't actually say that. Yeah. But yeah, sure, like like me thank you for wishing me well. Thank you. I just hope this is the final operation. Thank you very much. Thank you. Is that it? Thank you, yes.