Florence was diagnosed with a congenital cataract in her right eye at the age of 18 months. She was getting her usual check up and immunisations when her GP did her eye check and noticed a slight mark. From there we went to an ophthalmologist who confirmed she had a cataract.

In the Beginning

We started with glasses and patching up to 8 hours per day, after seeing multiple specialists we decided on the treatment that we felt was going to give her the best chance of vision in the future. In April 2019, just after Easter Florence had a lensectomy and vitrectomy and was fitted with a Bifocal hard contact lens just 4 weeks after her operation. Those first few weeks were incredibly difficult with appointments every couple of days, more drops than we care to remember and the hardest part, getting her lens fitted.

"Florence is our little ray of sunshine, who has been through a lot in her little life."

At the very start of our diagnosis, before surgery our ophthalmologist asked if we had family support around us, she mentioned it was going to be one of the hardest things we will go through and I didn't quite understand what she meant. Now, 6 months in I completely understand. We have our ups and downs, trying to teach a 2 year old to wear a lens and remove it once a week, is a very difficult task.

We have had more tears than I could have imagined, but after almost 6 months, we no longer need to hold Florence down to get her lens in and out. She will take eye drops without any resistance and the lens is doing its thing and fitting into our daily life. We have reduced to only 4 hours of patching a day and that has been huge for her. She picks her own patch, puts a sticker on it and removes the backing for it. We have been so persistent with patching and it has really paid off. Florence is our little ray of sunshine, who has been through a lot in her little life.