Patient offers insight to docs

BARRIE HAS CATARACT OP 34 YEARS AFTER OTHER EYE

A PLYMOUTH man has shocked eyecare consultants by going 34 years between cataract operations.

Barrie Furzeland, now 74, told staff at Newmedica Plymouth that his first cataract had been caused by a freak impact trauma he sustained when the knot on a lawnmower's starter cord hit him in the eyeball when he was 40 years old.

Having recently developed a cataract in his other eye, Barrie turned to Newmedica and was able to offer a first-hand insight into the changes which have taken place in sight-saving surgery over the last three decades.

Cataracts form when the lens of a person's eye develops cloudy patches. Over time these patches can become bigger, causing blurred vision and eventually blindness if untreated.