Pacino's Going Blind! See Al's Eyes All Bandaged Up
Inside the actor's life-or-death surgery.
Sept. 9 2016, Published 10:09 a.m. ET
Al Pacino is going blind after a major surgery, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned. Click through the gallery to see his bandaged face after going under the knife.
Al Pacino Hides Bandaged Eye With Sunglasses While Out To Lunch In Beverly Hills
Hollywood legend Pacino had undergone cataract surgery, an insider told Radar, and now he's going blind!
Al Pacino Hides Bandaged Eye With Sunglasses While Out To Lunch In Beverly Hills
The shocking photos show the 76-year-old leaving a luncheon in Beverly Hills on Aug. 24 with a massive pair of dark glasses hiding a heavily bandaged eye.
Al Pacino Hides Bandaged Eye With Sunglasses While Out To Lunch In Beverly Hills
"The sun's glare was getting to him, and he had cataract surgery," said a source close to The Godfather star.
Al Pacino Hides Bandaged Eye With Sunglasses While Out To Lunch In Beverly Hills
Cataracts cloud the lenses of the eye and, if left untreated, could lead to total blindness, according to medical experts. Eyesight-saving surgery involves removing the clouded lens and replacing it with an artificial lens.
Al Pacino Hides Bandaged Eye With Sunglasses While Out To Lunch In Beverly Hills
But the procedure was not without danger for the Donnie Brasco star, said Dr. Gabriel Mirkin, who has not treated Pacino. Blindness could result from any unintentional damage inflicted to the optic nerve during the procedure, he said.
Al Pacino Hides Bandaged Eye With Sunglasses While Out To Lunch In Beverly Hills
What's more, even if the surgery was successful, Pacino must avoid the problems that caused the cataracts to develop in the first place, Dr. Mirkin said.
Al Pacino Hides Bandaged Eye With Sunglasses While Out To Lunch In Beverly Hills
"That could be smoking, alcohol, diabetes, eye trauma or prolonged radiation or sun exposure," he noted.
Al Pacino Hides Bandaged Eye With Sunglasses While Out To Lunch In Beverly Hills
"If (Al) doesn't avoid whatever it was, (he) is flirting with blindness," Dr. Mirkin told Radar.
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Ironically, Pacino won his only Oscar for playing a blind and embittered Army colonel in the 1992 drama Scent of a Woman.