What was that thing?

That thing was a cataract. Yes, congrats. And yes, there was also a piece of a gauze and a syringe - you silly people!


This is a cataract inside the eye. Once it's been exposed to light, it turns that reddish-brown color. Obviously its not that colour within the eye. Actually, when its being taken out it appears yellowish, but within the ey it's that whiteish looking thing.

It's eye surgery that is done by an ophthalmologist - and a doctor from the US came to Samoa to do the surgeries for two weeks. He brought his wife and 5 kids - 3 of whom actually helped him in testing and as scrub nurses! (Ages 21, 18, and 17).

A cataract is sort of like a growth, which I didn't realize. It's actually blocking sight - not just cloudyness, like we hear when people describe them. They blind - obviously. Could you see through that mess???

Dr Jeff removed them and then added a brand new synthetic lense, and voila, next morning - they can see. It's crazy! Sometimes it takes a few days for the eye to adjust and see everything clearly, but it's incredible to see.



This is another ophthalmology surgery. It's called a Pterigium removal. It's a growth on the outside of the eye. Eventually it grows over top of the pupil, and blocks out the sight. Crazy looking huh? If you click the picture it will show up larger too.

Here's some patients before/after getting their bandages removed. That's Dr Jeff on the left, in scrubs.

So - good guesses. More blogging to come. I'm pretty busy this week, sorting out 2 weeks of work that didn't get done. :)