Exceeding Expectations as the Doctor’s Doctor

“The decision to ask Sheraz to do my surgery was easy. He’s a surgeon that I have admired for many years both on a personal and a professional level. His achievements in the Ophthalmology circle are undeniable and his sound knowledge and judgement is evident to all. First and foremost, I wanted to select an especially competent corneal/anterior segment (front of the eye) surgeon knowing that competent corneal surgeons always make amazing cataract surgeons.

“Sheraz’s name stood out to me as one of, if not the best in the field, a globally recognised and influential ophthalmologist.”

Centre for sight is a purpose-built facility with the some of the best technologies available. It is conceived and is run by Ophthalmologist. Being an Ophthalmologist myself and having also built my own eye centre, I am acutely aware of the advantages such a setup offers and the superiority over the usual multi-disciplinary private hospitals around the country.”

“My initial consultation with Sheraz was in his London clinic. The care and attention to details in his comprehensive pre-operative assessment was second to none. It filled me with confidence that no stone was left unturned. Consequently, on the day of surgery I was not anxious in the least knowing exactly what’s coming next and the purpose of every action of the staff.

“The patient journey through the centre was exemplary, a truly well-oiled machine as expected.”

The staff were all very efficient and courteous; their actions were purposeful and confident with no hesitation or doubt. Every step of the way there was accompanying explanation and although I did not need any of the explanations, it was very pleasing and reassuring to know that staff themselves have a good understanding of the purpose of their action and how all that contributes to a successful outcome as well as a happy patient experience.

The experience during the actual surgery is what interested me most. Being a cataract surgeon myself, I had explained to my patients thousands of times exactly what to expect and what they would see and feel. My own cataract surgery was my opportunity to see if what I told my patients was true. It turned out it was, the whole surgery was very brief, betraying surgeon and staff efficiency and skill. There was no pain whatsoever, only the odd moment of gentle pressure. The visual experience during the surgery was interesting. I thought there would be very bright lights, it turned out to be a gentle pleasant light show accompanied by the sounds the equipment which I was all too familiar with. What was very notable to me was the other sounds in theatre. There was no trivial chitchat between the staff, all were totally focused on what they were doing, a quite respectful and reassuring environment.

“All in all, I’ve had more traumatic visits to my barber to have my hair cut! I actually enjoyed the experience!”

“Having surgery to both eyes done sequentially in the same surgical session is no longer an unacceptable risk. The advantages far outweigh any additional risk if there is any. When surgery is done to both eyes with an interval of a few days, the imbalance between the two eyes during this interval is not something that I was looking forward to. I’m very aware that it’s certainly tolerable but it is far more pleasant when you come out of surgery and both eyes are seeing well with no imbalance whatsoever. Distance as well as reading is always much better with both eyes than with each eye individually. Immediate gratification with no appreciable increase in risk is what I got. Added to that is the convenience of attending for surgery once and not twice.

“The emotional as well as the practical advantages of that was clearly evident to me. Several studies have demonstrated the safety of such practice. I was very comfortable allowing that to happen especially with a superb surgeon and staff in a state-of-the-art eye centre.”