See Clearly Now

Imagine if one day the world became hazy; if everywhere you looked was fogging up like breath on a window pane. This is the eye of a 70-year-old man who once suffered from cataracts – a progressive condition in which the eye’s lens becomes cloudy. It’s the world’s most common cause of blindness. But this man isn’t blind, in fact after a simple operation his vision has vastly improved. Here a high-powered camera picks out the details of a clever little device called an iris clip lens. Following surgery to remove the cataract, the artificial lens was attached to the coloured part of his iris, shown at the centre of the picture. So, clear sight for this lucky patient, and a clear future for intraocular lenses, which are also commonly used to correct myopia or short-sightedness.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image by Mark Bartley, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Image copyright held by the photographer
• Winner of the Julie Dorrington Award in this year's Wellcome Image Award Competition