Pinetown Opthalmic Surgeon gives the gift sight
The sight restoring surgery is done under local anesthesia, so the stay in hospital is minimal and recovery is a few days. Sight is restored almost immediately.
MOST cataracts develop slowly and don’t disturb your eyesight early on.
But in time, cataracts will eventually interfere with one’s vision, and that was the case for Vusi Hlanguza whose vision became clouded with cataracts developing on both his eyes.
Hlanguza said he had good vision and could drive well before his cataracts worsened a few months ago. Small chores eventually became a strain.
He was on a long waiting list at McCord Provincial Eye Hospital with no hopes of being healed anytime soon when Crompton Life Hospital’s Specialist Opthalmic Surgeon, Dr Dharmesh Parboo, accepted Hlanguza as a patient along with four other hopefuls, and after a 20 minute operation Hlanguza was a different man.
“I can drive again, even though I only received an operation on one of my eyes, it has improved my life,” said Hlanguza.
According to Hlanguza, his name is back on the waiting list for his left eye.
“I’m expecting a call in the next six weeks and I hope that very soon I’ll be my old self,” he said.
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Dr Parboo performed all these surgeries on a pro bono basis.
“The cataract surgeries are done as part of the World Sight Day initiative, to treat avoidable blindness in South Africa. The initiative is driven of the Ophthalmic Society of South Africa’s Right to Sight Trust goal,” said Dr Parboo.
All the patients chosen for the initiative are part of the state medical system and were on the waiting list at the Regional Eye Hospital at McCord.
“Many have to wait for years before they can have this sight restoring procedure due to major backlogs in the State system,” he added.
According to Dr Parboo, there have been major advances in the management of cataracts so the risks are very low, now.
Sight is restored almost immediately. Surgery is done under local anesthesia so the stay in hospital is minimal and recovery is a few days.
There is no pain and minimal discomfort. The eye operation takes about 20 minutes.
Dr Parboo’s advice to a person who has developed cataracts is, “To restore your vision sooner rather than later as the previous notion to wait for a cataract to mature, is no valid,” he said.
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