Father William Beaver hails world first robotic eye surgery as 'simple'

A priest said he felt'completely relaxed' as surgeons performed revolutionary surgery inside his eye with the aid of a robot. The patient, Father William Beaver, 70, an associate priest at St Mary the Virgin Church in Oxford, said his eyesight was returning following the operation, having previously experienced distorted vision similar to'looking in a hall of mirrors at a fairground'. The procedure - the world's first robotic operation - was carried out by surgeons at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, who welcomed its success and said it could revolutionise the way such conditions are treated. Father Beaver told BBC Breakfast: 'I was completely relaxed and completely comfortable because I could see that all the technology was in place and all the goodwill was in place and all the skills were in place. Professor Robert MacLaren says scientists'have just witnessed a vision of eye surgery in the future' 'Because, you see, the key is the precision.