Australian-first trial offering 'massive improvement' to cataracts surgery

A Queensland hospital is the first in Australia to use a new surgical microscope for cataract surgery, with doctors saying it's helping provide faster and safer procedures.

Mater Private Hospital Redland is trialling the SeeLuma system, which allows surgeons to observe and perform a cataract operation in multiple ways using unique fully digital binoculars along with monitor-based 3D surgery.

Mater ophthalmologist Dr Sunil Warrier said the system was a "massive improvement".

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"We've gone from looking down two little eyepieces having a very small field of view to a 55-inch screen and turning something that was small and delicate into a home cinema almost," he said.

One of the patients involved in the trial is 71-year-old Malcolm Knight.

For him, time out on the road is time well spent but a deterioration in vision recently threatened his independence.

"I was watching the TV and you could see it. The colours weren't as good as what they could be," he said.

Knight's optometrist diagnosed cataracts — a condition that causes clouding of the eye lens leading to blurry vision.

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He was put on a restrictive licence.

"You've got to drive locally and no more than five-kilometre distance from your house," he said.

Knight was then referred to the Mater Private Hospital Redland, where he underwent surgery.

"Recovery was no problem at all," he said.

"As I soon as I saw the TV the next day after the operation, the colours were fantastic."

After its successful trial, the technology will now be rolled out across Australia.

"Anytime that we can see better, we get cleaner surgery and the less time we spend touching the human body, the quicker it heals," Warrier said.