75 years on: husband and wife among hundreds of millions whose sight has been saved by pioneering surgery

Saturday 8 February marked the 75th anniversary of the first successful lens implant operation, known as modern cataract surgery.

Since the pioneering procedure was developed by Sir Harold Ridley at St Thomas’ Hospital in 1950, there have been nearly 1 billion surgeries, saving the sight of hundreds of millions of people across the world.

Husband and wife John and Freda McBean, from Chislehurst in south east London, have both had the life-changing operation at St Thomas’.

It’s amazing that over the course of my lifetime this operation has been finessed, and it’s nice to be a part of the history of the hospital.

10 years ago, John, 76, had a tear in his retina, the area of the eye that detects light. After a surgical procedure to fix the tear, the surgeon noticed a cataract was starting to form. Cataracts are when the lens, a small transparent disc inside the eye, becomes cloudy. This can lead to blurry vision and eventually blindness. 1 in 2 people over the age of 60 have some degree of cataracts.

John’s vision had started to deteriorate over the past 5 years, and following advice from his optician, the retired deputy head teacher had surgery on his left eye earlier this week to remove the cloudy lens.

John wasn’t nervous as his wife, Freda, 72, had cataracts in both her eyes removed last year.

Freda needed glasses for all her daily tasks before her operation. Now, her vision is excellent, and she only needs reading glasses for very fine print.

Freda, a retired primary school teacher, said: “The surgery went beautifully and the experience was unbelievable. Although I was anxious when I first went into the theatre, I was completely reassured by the confident and calm surgical team.

“They also explained the aftercare to me and why it is so important to ensure my eye was healing properly.”

John, who would have been 1-year-old when the first cataract operation was performed, said: “I feel like I know the surgery so I wasn’t nervous. The preliminary checks were straightforward and couldn’t have been easier.

“I couldn’t believe it when I was told I was one of the patients getting surgery around the anniversary. It’s amazing that over the course of my lifetime this operation has been finessed, and it’s nice to be a part of the history of the hospital.”

Following the 30 minute procedure, John said: “It was amazing and I am absolutely in awe of the team. I am already feeling better and can see more brightness than I could see before.”

The operation involves removing the cloudy lens and replacing it with an artificial lens made out of acrylic plastic. Sir Harold made his medical breakthrough after treating a Spitfire pilot who had splinters of acrylic in his eye. Ridley noticed that, unlike most foreign bodies, the eye did not reject this plastic.

At the time, Sir Harold’s invention was considered a radical concept, which was initially resisted by much of the medical profession. There was a 3-month recovery period between the removal of the cloudy lens and the implantation of the artificial one.

Over John’s life time, it has become the most common eye operation in the world. In the 1980s new technologies, including a foldable lens and ultrasound on the eye, reduced the size of the incision required, meaning fewer stitches and a quicker recovery. Today, the surgery takes only 15 to 30 minutes per eye, and patients are discharged within 4 hours. Some patients may even have no need to wear glasses afterwards.

Sir Harold never patented his discovery so that everyone could benefit from the life-changing operation.

To celebrate 75 years since its invention, ophthalmologists at Guy’s and St Thomas’ have unveiled a portrait of Sir Harold Ridley, gifted to the hospital by the Ridley Eye Foundation.  

St Thomas’ Hospital cares for patients who live locally and receives referrals from across the country for complex eyes and patients with significant medical needs. The eye department sees 70,000 patients and carries out 5,000 operations a year.

St Thomas’ is also the leading centre for cataract research in the UK. Recent research showed that a new type of lens implant helps reduce the need for glasses in 4 out of 5 patients. Surgeons tailor the range of vision in each eye so that they have distance vision in their dominant eye, and closer vision in the other.

Dr Sancy Low, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’, who performed John’s surgery, said: “The story of Sir Harold Ridley’s journey is an incredible reminder of how we can bring light to the world, changing the lives of John, Freda and millions worldwide.

“We learn that innovation is not always easy, and silver linings show up at the most unexpected times, as long as we never give up on doing our best for one another.”