I just couldn't carry on with my cataracts, says Barbara Windsor... and the only downside of having them fixed was looking like a diva in the sunglasses I had to wear

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Perhaps the most striking thing about Barbara Windsor’s portrait in the new campaign for vision-loss charity RNIB is, well, just how sombre she looks.

‘Is that Barbara Windsor?’ was the surprised reaction most people had when I showed them the picture.

For despite her 16-year stint as angst-ridden landlady Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders, to the British public Barbara is still ‘Babs’, the end-of-the-pier bubbly blonde, forever bursting out of her bra in the Carry On films.

Perhaps the most striking thing about Barbara Windsor’s portrait in the new campaign for vision-loss charity RNIB is just how sombre she looks

But the new images of her for the charity campaign couldn’t seem further from that ebullient cockney-sparrow character.

They powerfully convey a simple message: that we should all consider for a moment what it must be like not to be able to see.

The RNIB’s See The Need campaign, which also features singer Dame Shirley Bassey and actor Neil Morrissey in similar poses in posters and online in videos, aims to raise awareness of the need for more sight-loss advisers in hospital eye departments.

It is a message close to Barbara’s heart. Over the past few years she has battled against deteriorating sight – and it terrified her.

She had an operation to remove cataracts in both her eyes two months ago, shortly before agreeing to back the charity campaign which she says was ‘perfect timing’.

Sitting on the sofa of the West London mews house she shares with third husband Scott Mitchell, Barbara, 78, reveals: ‘It had got to the point where even with glasses I couldn’t read the small print. I’m a big reader and I really had to screw up my eyes. You take your sight for granted until something like this happens.’

She was understandably apprehensive before her treatment.

‘It’s your eyes, isn’t it?’ she says. ‘They’re just extra-precious. I’m a real eyes and teeth person,’ she laughs.

The new images of her for the charity campaign couldn’t seem further from that ebullient cockney-sparrow character, pictured (above) in Carry On Doctor, viewers love

Fortunately for Barbara, one of her neighbours, and a close friend, is consultant ophthalmic surgeon John Grindle.

She had had regular check-ups with him because of her long and short-sightedness and, before the operation, wore contact lenses: one eye corrected for distance vision and one eye for reading.

‘John’s a very, very good friend and so lovely,’ she explains. ‘But when he told me I had cataracts the thought of surgery terrified me. It took me a couple of years to make up my mind to go ahead with it.

‘By then I’d got to a point where I thought, “This is terrible, I’ve got to get on with it.” Reading was difficult and I struggled to apply my eye liner.’

Cataracts develop in the lens of the eye and prevent light reaching the back of eye, causing reduced vision. They generally occur due to the ageing process and can take many years to develop, with initial symptoms often being imperceptible. One risk factor is believed to be exposure to ultraviolet radiation, otherwise known as sunlight.

And it is this that is thought to be behind the gradual rise in the number of those as young as 40 being diagnosed with the condition.

Mr Grindle explains: ‘It’s similar to some people getting grey hair as they get older – some people go grey early, some people go grey later in life. Some people with cataracts require surgery in their 40s and 50s. The time for surgery depends on an individual’s visual requirements.

‘If you fly jet aircraft or drive fast cars for a living, or you’re a surgeon, for instance, and have a requirement for very detailed vision, then you might require surgery earlier than someone else.

‘From a patient’s point of view, the surgery is required when the cataracts are interfering with their enjoyment of life.

‘For a lot of older people, reading and watching television will have become difficult, which was the case for Barbara.

‘While the speed at which cataracts develop varies from person to person, once you find out you’ve got them and have symptoms, you might as well get them taken out – the earlier you have surgery the more you’re going to gain from it.’

Once Barbara had made the decision to tackle her cataracts, the challenge became finding a window in her busy work schedule.

Cataract patients are advised not to wear eye make-up during the two to three weeks following the surgery because of the risk of infection. They also need to apply eye drops several times a day for a number of weeks, and Barbara wanted a proper window of time to concentrate on this and her recovery.

‘Every time I went to make an appointment, work would come in,’ she says. ‘Twice I had to reschedule because of work, and the third time I had bronchitis.

‘That would have been no good because you have to be able to keep very still during the procedure,’ adds Barbara, whose latest project is Tim Burton’s Alice Through The Looking Glass, the sequel to his 2010 hit Alice In Wonderland, in which she voices the Dormouse.

Her operation took place at the private Platinum Medical Centre at the Wellington Hospital in North-West London.

Mr Grindle explains that such operations are usually easy and quick. He says: ‘The procedure in Barbara’s case, as with most cataract operations, was walk in, then walk out.’

Before surgery, tests are carried out to decide which lens is required to give a patient the best vision.

The 78-year-old is known best as angst-ridden landlady Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders, pictured (above) in character with sons Grant and Phil Mitchell 

‘Special machines measure the length of the eye and the curvature of the cornea so one can establish the precise lens that is required,’ Mr Grindle says.

‘The cataractous lens is replaced with a new lens which has to be the right strength for the eye it’s being put into. The operation is done with a topical anaesthetic gel, meaning no general anaesthetic or local anaesthetic injections are needed.’

Once the eye has been frozen with the gel, a process called phacoemulsification takes places. ‘This is an ultrasound technique which uses a vibrating tip to break down the structure of the cataract,’ explains Mr Grindle.

‘The fragments are removed from the eye using a very sophisticated sort of vacuum cleaner.

‘Once the old cataractous lens has been removed the new one, usually made out of silicone, is inserted through a tiny incision. The new lens is placed in the remaining exterior capsule of the old one. It takes about ten minutes to do each eye.’

Patients don’t have to wear eye patches or pads afterwards although they are given a couple of transparent plastic shields to protect the eyes at night for the first week.

Vision can be a little blurry immediately after surgery as the pupils have been dilated with eye drops which results in a loss of depth of focus, but it rapidly returns during the first 24 hours ‘

Cataracts often develop in both eyes, although they can affect each one differently. The new lens may be monofocal, in which case the patient will require reading glasses, or varifocal, meaning the patient may be glasses-free.

Some patients, as in Barbara’s case, elect to use one eye for near and one eye for distance and have ‘monovision’ without glasses.

While she was frightened at the prospect of the operation, Barbara now describes it as ‘a piece of cake’.

‘The whole experience was rather wonderful. I was chatting to the lovely staff about the Carry On films and John held my hand throughout.

‘I didn’t feel any discomfort.’

The procedure has left Barbara with near perfect vision after wearing contact lenses for the past 30 years. ‘The morning after the op I was able to pick up the paper and read it without glasses,’ she says.

‘I still go to take out my contact lenses at the end of the day – it’s taking a while to get used to not needing them or my glasses any more.’

One side effect of the operation was that light appeared much brighter to Barbara afterwards.

‘I suddenly felt much more sensitive to light,’ she says. ‘I had to wear sunglasses a lot over the summer. I’m not usually a big sunglasses lady. I like to see people’s faces and I like them to see me. I don’t want people to think I’m a diva! Colours are also much more vivid now.’

‘Given my experience with my eyes, I felt I was meant to be part of the RNIB campaign,’ says Barbara.

‘I feel I’ve been very lucky and this is my way of giving something back.’