Baby Beams at Dad After Undergoing Cataract Surgery

Two weeks after undergoing surgery to remove cataracts in both eyes, 7-month-old Theo Bennett popped on his new glasses for the first time and saw his dad come into focus. 

The little boy beamed on his mother's lap as he looked around the room and saw the world in a new way. 

Theo was diagnosed with congenital cataracts after his mom, Lois Bennett, noticed a cloudiness in his eyes when he was around 6 months old. It's a rare condition that affects about three to four children per 10,000 in the United Kingdom, according to the Royal National Institute of Blind People. 

Theo underwent surgery at Leeds General Infirmary in the U.K. soon after being diagnosed with the condition and had the lenses of his eyes replaced with artificial ones in October 2018. Two weeks later, he was ready to try on his corrective glasses. 

"When he put the glasses on, he looked at me with a big smile and you could see him looking around," dad Joe Bennett, 37, told news agency SWNS. "It melts your heart because you think to yourself, 'He can actually see now.'

"It was amazing, we took him out that afternoon and it was apparent that he was looking at the world around him like he’d never really done before," Joe added. 

Nearly a year later, Theo is now happily joining his two older brothers in chasing around the family cats and playing in the park. 

Eventually, Theo's doctors hope that he will only need to rely on glasses for reading when his vision is completely developed. 

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