Wonders of Modern Medicine

I just took my mom for cataract surgery, something most Americans can look forward to at some time in their lives.  She is 94, and just now needs the surgery.  A cataract is a cloudy or opaque area in the normally transparent lens of the eye.  When cells or proteins clump together, they cause a cloudy or opaque area in the transparent lens, which, as it thickens, obstructs entering light.  Blurred vision, sensitivity to light and glare, increased nearsightedness and distorted images  are symptoms of cataract.  The 10 minute surgery is performed by making tiny incisions on the eye through which the cataract is removed a new lens is inserted.  No pain, and in a few  short minutes, clear vision is restored.

In developing countries, 39 million people develop blindness each year.  More than half of these people could be cured by simple, inexpensive cataract surgery, yet most are not helped.  Fortunately for the Himalayan Cataract Project, an organization I learned about several years ago and have supported ever since, many people are now being helped.  The project was founded by two doctors, Sanduk Ruit and Geoffrey Tabin, who have made eradicating preventable and curable blindness their life mission.  The book Second Suns, by David Oliver Relin, tells their story.  These two doctors have performed thousands of surgeries (at a cost of about $25 per person), and saved the sight of thousands around the world.  More importantly, they have trained local doctors to perform these surgeries.

Most of us take our good vision for granted.  When cataracts do develop, most of have them removed and continue our lives with good eye sight.  In developing countries this is not true.  However, with the Himalayan Cataract Project, teaching doctors all over the world a quick and inexpensive way to remove cataracts, tens of thousands of people who would otherwise be plunged into darkness, have clear vision.  I love this organization!  No one should have to become blind from cataracts, with this quick, painless and inexpensive surgery.