A twenty year reunion was held to commemorate the first monofocal AcrySof lens implant operation.

The procedure was performed by eye surgeon Richard Packard in 1990 on Nellie Diaper at the King Edward VII Hospital in Windsor, UK. 

Mr Packard, senior surgeon at the Prince Charles Eye Unit in Windsor and director and consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Arnott Eye Associates, said: “At the time of Nellie’s original operation I had no idea it was going to be momentous. The material was unlike anything I’d ever used before. We were more used to working with silicone rubber and rigid plastic implants in cataract surgery than this new material, which felt sticky and was initially awkward to handle. The lens implanted in Mrs Diaper’s eye was monofocal and the surgery was routine. At the time none of us thought of it as being revolutionary; it was just the start of a clinical trial.” 

AcrySof lens is made from a hydrophobic acrylic substance and has been the basis of cataract treatment for 55 million patients over the last 20 years. The lens can be inserted in an incision of approximately 2 mm and has an extremely low level of secondary intervention. 