Patient’s sight saved due to quick actions of specialist eye hospital
Londoner Mark Evans is feeling incredibly grateful to the staff at a specialist eye hospital for saving the sight in his left eye after what he thought was a routine procedure became a medical emergency.
Mark, 64 from Kew, said: “It turns out that the symptoms I was experiencing were not the side effects of previous cataract surgery as I thought, but actually a detached retina which can be very serious. Fortunately, within just a few hours of arriving at Optegra Eye Hospital London, I was having surgery which saved my sight.”
Mark, a retired solicitor, understands what it’s like to have a detached retina, as it happened in his right eye eight years ago when he was living in Singapore. “As part of the surgical procedure to reattach the retina I had bifocal lenses inserted, a similar procedure to cataract surgery. My eyesight was great after that”, he said.
Fast forward to March 2025 and he started to notice a shadow in the peripheral vision of his left eye. Thinking that the retina was starting to detach in that eye too, he went to his local optician. “He suggested that the shadows I was seeing were likely due to a posterior capsule opacification (PCO) which is the most common complication that can occur following cataract surgery and can be treated with laser surgery.”
Mark was about to go on holiday so he waited a further 10 days before contacting Optegra Eye Hospital London to book in for YAG laser treatment. His symptoms hadn’t improved but he believed at this point that he did not need urgent medical treatment.
Mr Aamir Ismailjee, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Optegra Eye Hospital London, recalls that day: “I could see that he did indeed have PCO but his symptoms were actually being caused by a retinal detachment hiding behind this that had not previously been picked up. A retinal detachment is where the thin, light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye becomes separated from the wall of the eye. It is a medical emergency and if not repaired quickly with surgery, it can cause permanent sight loss.
“It is almost impossible to organise this surgery to take place on the same afternoon, and often it takes a couple of days to manage to get the patient into theatre. However, he was diagnosed with this problem at approximately 2pm and with much hard work, logistical planning and flexibility between sites we managed to get him over to our North London hospital on the same afternoon where he could have the emergency surgery.”
Thankfully Mark made a full recovery and now has full vision in both eyes. “It’s a long recovery process and I had to lie on my front for a week post-surgery so I didn’t disturb the gas bubble that had been put in my eye to help keep the retina in place. I could see the gas bubble gradually subside, it felt a bit like being under water and coming up to the surface, until it eventually disappeared.
“The vision in my left eye is not quite as sharp as the right but it’s good enough unaided and I don’t need to wear glasses. I am extremely grateful to the Optegra team for their efforts to organise this procedure - their hard work to free up space on a full operating list and admit me so quickly saved my vision that day.”
Optegra Medical Director, Mr Alastair Stuart, said: “This patient had a successful outcome thanks to Optegra’s ability to react quickly and always put the patient first. When we are faced with more complex cases such as this, we have the experts and technology on hand to be able to assist, and as in Mark’s case, help to save this sight.”
Optegra Eye Health Care is a specialist provider of ophthalmic services. Established in 2007, it has completed over one million eye procedures from its 78 eye hospitals and clinics across the UK, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Holland.
As well as providing private vision correction treatments – from lens replacement and laser eye surgery to implantable contact lenses – Optegra treats cataract surgery both privately and through its partnership with the NHS. Optegra also treats medical conditions AMD and glaucoma; and has launched the first ever treatment for people with the Dry form of AMD.
Optegra brings together leading-edge research, medical expertise and state-of-the-art surgical equipment. It performs more than 100,000 treatments annually, both private and publicly funded. Its top ophthalmic surgeons are renowned for their areas of expertise, offering excellent clinical outcomes and great patient service.