It’s a Rock!!

The cataracts we have come across in Cambodia  have been very different to those in the UK.

There is very little access to cataract surgery for many poor people and so they come when they are almost completely blind.

These Cambodian cataracts have progressed to a stage rarely seen in the UK, where patients present earlier.

These cataracts are like small hard rocks and the usual techniques we would use in the UK, sadly do not work. Instead we have to use a different technique that takes the cataract out whole.

These are incredibly surgically challenging cases, but the quality of life improvement for the patients is incredible. This lady was only able to see light and dark and we have bought her vision back to normal.

As a surgeon, it is humbling to be able to make such a difference to someone’s life.

A very exciting, and humbling start to our time in Cambodia.

Date: 01/22/2024
The gratitude from the patients is deeply touching.

I was excited and honoured to be asked to help operate at the Khmer Site Foundation in Phenom Penh. The nervousness and the interpretation was finally culminated in our first day! I’m lucky to be working with a fantastic team from all over the UK, comprising of nurses, doctors and optometrists.

It has been very humbling to see such severe site loss from cataract with patients. in the UK, patients usually come to see me when they have blurred vision. In Cambodia, the patients have such dense cataracts that they can barely see. The operations more difficult difficult, and we are even having to use different surgical techniques to remove such dense and hard cataracts.

The extra effort is absolutely worth it!

The patients are immensely grateful for their surgery, and it is an honour to use my skills to help them.

Don't trust everything your read! Coronovirus spread by Pokemon?!

The coronavirus crisis has revealed many of the cracks in our lives, and not least of all in the scientific publishing apparatus. At the start of the coronavirus outbreak, we were all desperate for any information on the virus, and it looked like any paper with a coronavirus angle ‘tacked on’ was getting published. Then this snuck through…

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343066384_Cyllage_City_COVID-19_Outbreak_Linked_to_Zubat_Consumption

In this published scientific journal article by the famous, and completely fictitious, Professor Elm, we can read how the spread of the coronavirus in a fictitious city was facilitated by the consumption of Pokemon, the popular videogame characters. The references are particularly hilarious, including publications by Potter H, Weasley R and Grainger H and a posthumous work by George Orwell published in 1984 (obviously!). My personal favourite….Wayne B (2016) Phobia of Bats and Its Applications in Criminal Justice. Gotham Forensics Quarterly 26(8): 807-814.

The authors did not make it difficult for publishers with the line “… a journal publishing this paper does not practice peer review and must therefore be predatory”.

In this current crisis, the veracity of scientific publications are more important than ever. Mainstream media are often reporting on scientific publications (usually without citing the source) and we are all thirsty for knowledge that can help us understand more about the virus. With politicians being ‘led by the science’, the scientific knowledgebase is more important than ever; public policy dictated by scientific finding is having a very real impact upon our lives.

Thanks to the comic genius who submitted this and we should all be a little more cynical of what we read.

Keep gaming and keep blinking!

The next-generation of consoles is upon us, and whichever console you go for make sure your eyes stay healthy.

Whenever we concentrate on a task (whether that’s on the Xbox or the PS5!) our blink rate goes down so the tears that protect they don’t flow properly over the surface. If you already have dry eye disease then this can make it worse so it is more important to keep up with your drops and keep blinking…

…now back to the game!