Local hospital achieves pain-free eye surgery

One year on from his cataract surgery at Optegra Eye Hospital Yorkshire, retired dentist Stephen Spencer is full of praise for the team who not only restored his vision but did so with zero pain.

While the Ilkley resident is delighted that he can now see where he has hit his golf ball, and who is on the other side of the net when playing tennis, he is also still grateful for the ease of the procedure.

He says: “As a dentist I used to pride myself on being painless but I have to hand it to my surgeon, Mr Backhouse, I felt no pain whatsoever, either during the procedure or in the post operative period.”

Mr Oliver Backhouse, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Optegra Eye Hospital Yorkshire, said: “We always aim to not only achieve optimum results through eye surgery, but also to deliver it with absolute care and minimum discomfort.  We often have patients saying that their experience of cataract or vision correction surgery is much less uncomfortable than a visit to the dentist or hygienist!  We are able to achieve this thanks to such advances in medicine and with the latest technology at our hospital, so are delighted that Mr Spencer, as a retired dentist himself, can testify to this.”

Stephen, aged 69, had cataract surgery a year ago as the cloudiness of his lens was affecting his sport.  He realized the people the other side of the tennis net were becoming indistinct, yet only a year previously he had been complementing himself on how clear his vision was. He left it was a fast decline which convinced him to have surgery – which he admits he would not have done unless absolutely necessary! He was referred from Boots Optician directly to Mr Backhouse at Optegra.

Despite his fears of the actual surgery, Stephen says: “It was such an easy procedure. On the pain factor, it was absolutely zero out of 10 and everyone in the team dealt with it so well and with such kindness.  I was amazed they could do this procedure with just eye drops – I had been expecting a big needle!  As a dentist there is no such thing as a little bit of pain, people want no pain whatsoever.  And while we try not to cause any pain, you can even hurt a bit by giving the jab as teeth can be so sensitive.  But at Optegra, that is what they did! I though I would have pain after the procedure instead, but no, nothing at all!”

The change in vision was quite obvious for Stephen after just one eye was treated.  He explains: “If I closed the eye that had been treated everything looked like it was in sepia, while the eye that was treated, everything looked so very clear – like a perfect photograph.”

Father of four, Stephen, was diagnosed with cataract at a check-up at Boots Optician and then went on to select having his treatment at Optegra Eye Hospital Yorkshire, based in Bradford.