Posted March 26, 2017 10:56:54

Photo: About 50 cataract operations will be carried out in a few days at Longreach Hospital. (ABC News)

Cataract surgery can change people's lives, but until recently anyone in western Queensland with the disease in need of risky eye surgery had to travel to Brisbane.

But with the acquisition of a $40,000 state-of-the-art machine, those operations for people with progressed symptoms can now be carried out at Longreach Hospital.

The phacoemulsification machine, bought by the Central West Hospital and Health Service, allows visiting eye specialists to take on complex and risky cataract surgery at Longreach Hospital.

Brisbane-based ophthalmologist Dr Bill Glasson, who was born in western Queensland, has been treating patients in and around Longreach for 25 years.

Now he and colleague Dr Sunil Warrier can perform up to 50 procedures over a three-day visit to Longreach.

Photo: Dr Sunil Warrier carrying out cataract surgery at Longreach. (ABC News: Nicole Bond)

"It is a fairly sophisticated jackhammer in terms of how it emulsifies or liquefies the cataract," Dr Glasson said.

Photo: Dr Glasson operated on Joyce Crombie before the machine was acquired. (ABC News)

"Once it has been liquefied or aspirated we suck it from the eye leaving the skin of the lens behind into which we can place the new lens, so it really revolutionises the life of patients who have lost significant vision as a result of cataracts."

Age is the main cause of cataracts, but prolonged exposure to harsh sunlight can intensify the eye disease.

"Certainly out in western Queensland people present later, they present with more dense cataracts " Dr Glasson said.

Photo: Mrs Crombie said the surgery had changed her life. (ABC News)

Last year Indigenous artist Joyce Crombie's life was changed for the better when Dr Glasson removed her cataracts, although her surgery occurred before the new machine was installed.

"I didn't want to do any art work, I couldn't see properly, I didn't know what colours to put in or how it was going to turn out same as what the landscape [looked like]," she said.

But Mrs Crombie said she now enjoyed painting in the bush and encouraged everyone needing the surgery to have it done.

"After you had your operation and you go back on to country and the colours are there," she said.

"Really beautiful, it just stands out and when I do my painting it shows in my painting."

Topics: eyes, healthcare-facilities, regional-development, regional, longreach-4730