This month, we catch up with one of our consultant eye surgeons (officially known as an ophthalmic surgeon), Mr Steve Harsum, who spends his days restoring the sight of people with damaged retinas and other conditions.
Steve explained: "At the back of your eye is the retina - the thin film that essentially 'takes the picture' of what you see. The retina can become damaged in a number of ways, and when that happens, you lose a part of your vision.
"Once per week we see patients who need emergency treatment because of a retinal detachment - that's where the sticky gel that fills the eye has torn the retina, breaking its seal to the wall of the eye.
"Within days the whole retina can become detached with a significant loss of vision. This can only be repaired surgically by removing the gel, pushing the retina back with a gas bubble, and sealing the tear with laser.
"Other common surgical retinal problems are macular holes, where a hole develops in the retina with sudden loss of vision, and epiretinal membranes, where scar tissue develops and wrinkles the retina, causing distortion of vision.
"We also see a number of patients with diabetes as that can cause some very serious complications for eyesight. In fact, diabetes is the most common cause of blindness for people under 65.
"When I'm not working at the hospital, I'm the clinical lead for NHS Sutton and Merton's diabetic retinopathy screening programme.
"Diabetic retinopathy is a preventable cause of blindness, but most patients do not have symptoms until they have lost their sight. For this reason there is a national screening programme, and all people with diabetes have annual photographic screening of their eyes. When I'm there, I study all of the difficult images, and decide which people need referral to hospital."
Steve joined our hospitals just over a year ago, and has settled in really well. He said: "We've made some fantastic improvements to the services ee're offering local people, and I can honestly say we are using ground-breaking technologies to make sure our patients get the very best care.
"I get a huge sense of job satisfaction from what I do - the difference we can make to a patient's life is astounding, and they are always incredibly grateful. It's very rewarding. And of course, I really enjoy it - I don't think I'll ever get bored of what I do.
And when Steve's not at work, there's not much time to sit back and relax. "I've got three young sons, who all take great joy in running me ragged! They're aged four, six and eight, and they certainly keep me busy when I'm not working. I'm also a huge fan of digital photography, and am particularly into macro photography (extreme close-ups of very small subjects) at the moment - that means I spend quite a lot of time trying to get as close as possible to insects and taking pictures of a spider's eight eyes!
"I'm also a keen squash player and play weekly team squash for the top club in the Kent leagues."
