Practising at
Miss Sarah-Lucie Watson
Consultant Ophthalmologist
MBBS FRCOphth
Specialises in
Sarah-Lucie Watson is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon who is a specialist in cataract surgery and the treatment of retinal problems - Age Related Macular Degeneration, Diabetic Eye Disease, Vascular problems (eg Retinal Vein Occlusion) and inflammatory conditions. She is happy to provide rapid opinions for patients who may want to know more about choice, beyond NHS provision. After cataract removal, Miss Watson can implant Toric and multi focal injectable lenses, which provide less spectacle dependence. She is also able to carry out Eylea, Lucentis, Avastin, Ozurdex and Iluvien injections to improve a patients vision after retinal damage.
Miss Watson trained at King's College Hospital in London, gaining her MBBS in 1988 and was awarded the William Simpson award for tropical medicine. After a general grounding in all areas of Ophthalmology, in various training hospitals across London and the South of England, she completed her Fellowship of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in 1994. Her senior training and Medical Retina Specialist Fellowship were completed at Moorfields Eye Hospital in 2003.
She was then appointed in Berkshire as a full-time surgeon in 2003. She has been Clinical Director for the Regional Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (2003-2010) and now leads the Fast Track Service providing treatment of macular degeneration in Reading.
Miss Watson has considerable experience having led the Diabetic Eye Screening in Berkshire for seven years, and is now leading the RBH NHS Macular Service – working with multidisciplinary colleagues to provide a comprehensive service of investigation and treatment, including support when restoration of normal sight is not always possible.
Miss Watson is the Royal College of Ophthalmologists tutor and educational supervisor, responsible for the training of ophthalmologists in Berkshire. She has been awarded five NHS Clinical Excellence awards.
Miss Watson provides a range of the latest evidence based treatments and is well informed about emerging technologies. She has worked as an expert advisor to the Macula Society and was awarded its top clinician’s award in 2014 for services to people with Macular disease.
She provides annual audits of her surgical outcomes which exceed the Royal College benchmark standards.
Treatment information
Some of the principal treatments carried out by Miss Sarah-Lucie Watson at Spire include:
Ophthalmology
- Cataract removal surgery
- Age-related macular degeneration treatment
- Refractive lens exchange surgery
- Retinal detachment surgery
- Macular hole surgery
Other treatments
- Diabetic eye disease
- Macular degeneration
- Retinal disease
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Additional information
Clinical interests
Corneal and external eye disease
Diabetic eye disease
Macular degeneration
Special clinical interests: AMD (wet and dry age related macula degeneration) treatment, monitoring, support and advice; Cataract Surgery: sub 2mm microincision cataract surgery, refractive cataract surgery, laser treatment for lens capsule thickening following cataract surgery; Diabetic eye screening; Epiretinal membrane, macular hole, AMD, diabetic eye disease; Eye lid cysts surgery. Glaucoma: assessment and monitoring; Lucentis VEGF blocker: treatment for macular degeneration, retinal vein occlusion, diabetic retinal problems; OCT scanning: high resolution retinal scans for retinal and glaucoma problems; Optic nerve head analysis: floaters and posterior vitreous detachment; examination and retinal tear laser treatment; Ozurdex: for vein occlusion and other conditions with macular oedema; Retinal laser treatment: for retinal tears, diabetic eye disease, vein occlusion.
Qualification and professional memberships
Professional memberships
Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmic Surgeons
Member of the British Medical Association
Member of UK society of cataract and refractive surgeons
Member of the European Society Cataract and Refractive Surgeons
Medical Defence Union
General Medical Council
Research and publications
Her latest academic presentations have been at
- Royal Society of Medicine, May 2018, where she joined specialists and spoke on the importance of multidisciplinary treatment in diabetic eye disease.
- Euretina Feb 2018, Bucharest, showing new work using OCT Angiography as a prognostic indicator for response to treatment in renal vascular occlusion
- Royal College Ophthalmologists 2018 Annual Congress presenting work from rural Kenya on the use of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty in primary open angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension.
- Macular Society Conference, Nov 2017 on Excellence in Patient support
She is a co-author for UK Guidelines on Screening for Hydroxychloroquine Retinopathy published in 2018.
She has been invited to work on several advisory boards for new drug development delivery.
She has written Smart Read national publications for patients on Age Related Macular Degeneration and Diabetic Macular Oedema.
Current NHS posts
Oxford Deanery College Tutor and Educational Supervisor - work has included inspections of other Eye departments in Oxford and Stoke Mandeville.
Lead for Clinical Governance at the Royal Berkshire hospital and has active roles in optimising and improving patient safety and experience.
Lead surgeon representative on the Drugs and Therapeutics Committee analysing and approving safe and financially responsible treatments for Berkshire patients.
Personal profile
I am married with three children.
I am now in my fourth year as a Trustee for the Blind Veterans UK charity (St Dunstans) and advise on service delivery.
I have worked for six years as a trainer/volunteer for the Kwale Eye Centre in rural Kenya visiting Dr Helen Roberts MBE. While there I helped develop the team in the operating theatre and eye clinics.
Contact information
| Telephone | 0118 328 0330 |
| Private secretary | Theresa Brosnan |
| Private secretary telephone | 0118 328 0330 |
| Private secretary email | secretary@slwatson.co.uk |