Gorilla gets rare surgery to restore eyesight

WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- She's 42 years old and is practically going blind. Now a local veterinarian is helping in this rare surgery.

The latest in cataract surgery technology is at Palm Beach Veterinary Specialists in West Palm Beach.

Dr. Robert Roy, owner of Palm Beach Veterinary Specialists says, "Well as a specialty medicine and surgery practice, we require specific high end equipment to do some of the procedures that we do and the operating microscope is one of those pieces of equipment that allows us to do procedures that can’t otherwise be done."

Plus they have highly specialized doctors, at the top of their game, like Dr. Tim Cutler.

"There’s only a few veterinary ophthalmologists in the area and although Dr. Cutler primarily works with dogs and cats, his ability as a surgeon and his skill as an ophthalmologist makes him uniquely qualified to work with a patient like Josephine,"
Dr. Roy said.

The hi-tech equipment has been carefully transported to Miami along with Dr. Cutler for a rare surgery on a Miami resident named Josephine.

Dr. Roy says, "Josephine is a low-land gorilla and she’s elderly and consequently she has cataracts similar to what people get so that’s impairing her sight significantly and to try to help restore her sight they’re going to remove her cataracts lens and replace it with a clear lens to allow her to see and will improve her quality of life."

This surgery has been performed less than a dozen times on gorillas.

Although not done often, the surgery was the only hope for restoring her eyesight and her quality of life.

To make this surgery happen, both the doctor's time and medical equipment were donated.

We have learned that surgery was a success and Josephine is recovering at the Metro Zoo under the watchful eyes of her doctors.