Mr Gavin Walters

Mr Walters was appointed Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Harrogate District Hospital and York Teaching Hospitals in 2001. His special interests include medical retinal diseases (age related macular degeneration, diabetic eye disease and retinal vascular disease) and cataract surgery.

He led the development of treatment services for age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinal vascular disease in North Yorkshire.

His training included a sub-speciality fellowship in Medical Retinal Diseases at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London with specialist attachments at the Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia and St Paul’s Eye Unit, Liverpool. His specialist ophthalmic training rotation was based in Yorkshire, during which he became a fellow of The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and entered the specialist register. His general medical (internal medicine) training rotation was based in Leeds, leading to the qualification of MRCP (Member of the Royal College of Physicians).

He has taken a leading role in developing new services for eye care locally, regionally and nationally. His quality of care, as demonstrated by audit, far exceeds national and international standards. He pioneered the introduction of the regional age related macular (AMD) service which has been praised nationally. He is an examiner for the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and The Royal College of Surgeons of Glasgow, as well as an investigator in a number of national and international research studies. He has advised NICE and Department of Health on Age Related Macular Degeneration.

Mr Walters specialises in cataract surgery in the ageing eye. Cataract surgery audits show his results to far exceed UK and international standards (posterior capsule rupture rate [audit of over 3000 consecutive cases] 20-50 times lower than national and international audits).

His interests outside of work include cycling, running, walking and wildlife photography.

• Premium cataract surgery, specialising in cataract and the ageing eye (he offers a full range of replacement lens options including toric lenses for astigmatism, extended depth of focus and multifocal intraocular lenses for distance, intermediate and near vision)
• Short sightedness (myopia) and long sightedness (hypermetropia) can be corrected, reducing the need for glasses afterwards
• YAG laser capsulotomy for post-cataract surgery capsule opacification
• Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) assessment and treatment
• Dry AMD and wet AMD (neovascular) including laser treatments, intravitreal injections of VEGF inhibitors such as Lucentis (ranibizumab), Eylea (aflibercept) and Avastin (bevacizumab)
• Diabetic retinopathy assessment, monitoring and treatments including; laser and intravitreal therapies for macular oedema;  VEGF inhibitors (eg Eylea and Lucentis) and intravitreal long acting steroid implants (Ozurdex and Iluvien)
• Retinal laser treatments for retinal tears and holes, macular oedema
• Treatments for macular oedema of various causes including branch, central retinal vein occlusions and diabetes using intravitreal ozurdex implants, lucentis and eylea injections
• Specialist in interpreting OCT retinal scans (ocular coherence tomography), fluorescein angiography and ICG angiography
• Glaucoma- diagnosis and management including laser treatments; selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) and YAG laser iridotomy
• General ophthalmology – external ocular disease, dry eye, blepharitis

• Royal College of Ophthalmologists
• American Academy of Ophthalmology
• British Medical Association
• North of England Ophthalmological Society
• Yorkshire Retina Society
• Expert Witness Institute