Cataract surgery

The loss of sight is a frightening prospect for all of us. The routines and activities we took for granted are now hugely difficult, if not impossible tasks. For families where the main source of income has suffered a loss of sight, the outcomes can be beyond devastating – no income, most likely plunged into poverty and an uncertain future. A major cause of sight loss are cataracts.

It's people living below the poverty line; sometimes in isolated rural locations or in an urban setting where cost and waiting times are prohibitive, that suffer the most. With low or no income coming in at all, cataract surgeries are often ignored, resulting in blindness.

We're working in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Iraq with local surgeries to provide simple life changing cataract operations. We can only do this with your help and generous donations. Take a look below to find out why a simple cataract operation can be life changing in so many ways. Restoring sight, restoring lives.

What is a cataract?

A cataract is the clouding of the lens in the eyeball. This cloudiness starts small and patchy, causing some minor sight issue. A majority of the time, the size of these cloudy patches increases, leading to further sight issues and ultimately blindness in that eye.

Cataracts, in general develop and get worse as we age. Vision becomes progressively more blurry and colour recognition can become difficult.

It is common for both eyes to develop cataracts, although at differing speeds.

In general, cataracts are not painful but can significantly decrease independence and quality of life for those affected.

Regaining a quality of life

Cataract surgery is a common, relatively painless, and highly effective medical procedure. The clouded lens is removed from the eye and replaced with an artificial lens. The procedure is simple and potentially life changing. For those who have been reliant on family and friends for visual tasks, a new sense of independence will emerge.

Quality of life also improves as corrected vision will allow individuals to once again take part in hobbies and social activities that may have once been a struggle or impossibility to undertake.

Possibly one of the most significant benefits of cataract surgery is that with corrected vision, the probability and risk of accidents, falls, etc. decreases significantly.

Changing lives in Iraq

Our team in Iraq has already performed 175 cataract surgeries in Mosul, giving back clearer vision to people in the area who have no means of pay for the procedure themselves. That's 175 transformed by relatively simple but hugely effective surgery. Brighter days are ahead for all recipients. Let's provide more of them.