75 years on: Hospital celebrates invention of pioneering eye surgery

A major hospital has unveiled a portrait of a pioneering medic to mark 75 years since he invented modern cataract surgery.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in Lambeth unveiled a portrait of Sir Harold Ridley at an anniversary event on Saturday.

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

John McBean, 76, from Chislehurst, is one of the latest patients to undergo the life-changing operation at St Thomas’.

Ten years ago, Mr McBean suffered a tear in his retina, the area of the eye that detects light, and a cataract began to form.

Cataracts are when the lens inside the eye becomes cloudy, leading to blurry vision and blindness. 

Following advice from his optician, the retired deputy head teacher had surgery on his left eye earlier this week to remove the cloudy lens.

Mr McBean, who would have been one-year-old when the first cataract operation was performed, said: “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.” 

Mr McBean said he wasn’t nervous about the operation because his wife, Freda McBean, 72, had cataracts in both her eyes removed last year.

The retired primary school teacher 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.

She 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.”  

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. He noticed that, unlike most foreign bodies, the eye did not reject this plastic.

At the time the invention was considered a radical concept, and was resisted by much of the medical profession. 

But, 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 is the most common eye operation in the world, taking just 15 to 30 minutes with patients discharged within four hours. 

St Thomas’ Hospital’s eye department sees 70,000 patients and carries out 5,000 operations a year.

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.”

Pictured top: Ophthalmologists at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital unveil a portrait of Sir Harold Ridley (Picture: Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust)