SEPTEMBER 2019
[This is just one of many articles in the author’s Astronomy Digest.]
In the autumn of 2017 my optician told me that I was developing cataracts in both eyes but with the right eye more advanced. I only really become aware of this when, at a star party, I looked up at a first quarter Moon and saw a coloured halo around it – but when I closed my right eye it disappeared! Visually testing some 80 mm refractors, I was surprised to find no false colour at the edge of the Moon when using an f/5 achromat which is my autoguiding scope. Photographs showed that the false colour was there. It appeared that the cataracts were limiting the range of colours that my eyes were sensitive to and, when one eye had had the cataract removed, it was obvious that when observing a white wall with the other it appeared yellowish in colour.
I shouldsay at this point that for most of my life I have been myopic, requiring strong(~-3.5 dioptres) lenses to correct my sight – which was then excellent. I suffered very little astigmatism and socould use a telescope eyepiece without wearing glasses. I used three pairs of prescription glasses.
One advantageof fairly strong myopia is that my ‘near point’ without glasses was just a fewcentimetres so I could clearly see very close up objects – sometimes a realasset and one which I now miss.
Thefollowing autumn, my optician referred me to have both cataracts removed andthe first of these was carried out swiftly in a private eye clinic on behalf ofthe NHS, so no cost was involved. Theoperation took, in total, about two hours. First a tablet was replaced under the lower eyelid to dilate thepupil. After a while to allow for itseffects, drops were placed in the eye to act as a local anaesthetic. I then was taken to talk to the surgeon whoselected a replacement lens corrected for distance vision. Finally I was taken into the operating theatreand lay down with my head supported on a pillow. A sheet was laid over my head and hole cutabove the eye – which had had an arrow pointing down to it. I was told to keep very still and lookupwards towards a light whilst, initially I believe, an ultrasonic beam wasused to break up the cataract. Ittranspired that the central part of the cataract had become very hard and requiredfull power to break it up. The remainswere then sucked out and the replacement lens inserted. I was given a pair of eye drops to use eachday for the next three weeks.
Thefollowing morning, the eye was incredibly sensitive to light − as my operationwas late the previous evening it may be that the pupil was still dilated – butthis wore off by the afternoon and I began to see clearly by that evening sothe operation had been a success and the eye recovered very quickly.
I hadrealised that my right eye would no longer need a lens for distance vision so,prior to the operation, I had a pair of glasses altered with a right eye lens ofzero dioptres. Due to refurbishment of theclinic where the cataracts were being removed it was 6 weeks before the lefteye was operated on. This was an interestingperiod as, without glasses, my right eye had near perfect distance vision andmy left eye could be used for reading or close-up use.
Followingthe operation on my left eye, which was also successful, one has to wait forsome weeks to let the eye settle down before new glasses could beprescribed. Very little correction (~1/4dioptre) was required for distance vision (and often, I no longer wear glasses)but I would now need glasses for near vision. I thus had two prescription glasses made for me.
As the twoeyes were nearly identical I could now buy low cost non-prescription glassesfor close vision requirements.
There is no doubt that colours have become more vibrant and an astronomer friend maintains that he can see stars which are about ½ a magnitude fainter than before his operations. I suspect that that this is true for me too. The night sky has become both clearer and brighter!