I've been interested in vision much of my adult life. My doctoral thesis was on the first and second optical ganglia of the house fly, peculiarly enough. I left that field after about 12 years, but my interest in vision and optics has remained. Thus it was interesting for me to observe my own vision beginning to fade as I passed my 60th year on the planet. As time went on my left eye delivered a less and less distinct image as the result of cataract, a clouding of the lens, to the point that I had only 30% visual acuity in that eye.
Replacing the biological lens with a synthetic intraocular lens implant is a routine operation performed in almost all nations of the world thousands of times daily. The success rate is greater than 90%. The operation, which takes about 15 minutes, is usually performed under local anaesthesia in an ambulatory setting and the patient can return home the same day. After the surgery an eye patch is placed over they eye and remains in place for about 24 hours to let the eye recover and protect it from mechanical trauma and microbial assault. The operation is not without its dangers and things do sometimes go wrong. Mostly, however, the results depend upon the willingness of the patient to follow all the instructions of putting drops in the eyes up to 10 times per day for a few days and also not to bend over or pick up anything heavy for 14 days.
When the ophthalmologist removed the patch the day after the operation I couldn't repress my surprise. What a shock it was to see everything clearly and especially much more brightly. If my eye was a photographic lens we would say it is at least a full f-stop greater than with the old lens. The reason is that not only does the lens often become "foggy" with age, it also discolors as if a yellow-brown filter was in front of it. The plastic lens is "water clear" and thus delivers an unfiltered image. It's astonishing how bright everything is. The fact that my right eye delivers a comparatively darker, yellow-brown image is compensated quickly for by the brain.
It is interesting to observe the paintings of the great J.M.W. Turner over the years of his life. People have attributed the darker, warmer hues in his later paintings to psychological factors, but most likely he really saw the world around him in those tones as he grew older. My ophthalmologist felt uncertain whether it would have been better if Turner had received an implant. For me, personally, there is no question. I am delighted with the results.
