Gorilla receives cataract surgery

Cataract surgery specialist Dr Chris Heichel recently performed an unusual eye surgery at San Diego Zoo, California alongside a team of experts.

Dr Heichel had previously completed thousands of successful cataract removals, but none of them had been on a gorilla. ‘Fortunately, the similarities between the anatomy of human and gorilla eyes are great enough to safely navigate the procedure without complication,’ he explained.

Zookeepers noticed that Leslie, a three-year-old female western lowland gorilla, had cloudiness in her left eye. Considering Leslie’s young age, veterinarians organised a selection of ophthalmologists and anaesthesiologists to perform an operation to restore her full vision.