Pro wrestling veteran Davey Boy Smith Jr. appeared on Cafe du Rene to discuss several topics, including how he recently had cataracts done in his eyes.
Smith Jr. said, “I came back home in January from a really successful trip, and I somehow got cataracts in my eyes from the 20 years of those shitty tanning beds. Hopefully people can learn from that. But I had seen people not using the glasses…I didn’t like the lines [it would leave] around your eyes when you go tanning, so a lot of times, I just put a towel on, and the last six months or so, I was using the old tanning beds over in Japan, you gotta lay in them for 30-40 minutes, and they’re the old UV, they’re lousy bulbs. So I had to get the surgery, and both eyes, it was weird. It was like it just sort of came on. It was like my body knew that I had three months off, and I was like, let’s get this taken care of. One thing that I can say is that it cost me about fourteen grand and I had to pay it. For people, with wrestlers, it’s always like, learn from this guy, don’t do this. Hopefully, they learn from me and yourself and your dad to save your money because you don’t know when stuff like that will happen. Luckily, I had the money to pay for it.”
On his recovery:
“I had to get [the surgery] in the states. I couldn’t even fly. I couldn’t drive or do anything. [My eyesight] is perfect. It’s great. All the post-op exams were great. My eyesight went back to 20/20. Prior to this happening, my eyesight was always 20/20, and then it just started getting blurry. I flew back, and I had the jet lag from Japan, so I stayed in for two days, and I go outside, and the sun, I go, ‘Holy, man, I can’t see.’ So I drove to Dunkin Donuts to get a coffee and wake up, and I couldn’t really the menu outside because it’s on a whiteboard. I said, ‘What’s going on?’ So I got all the exams and stuff. But the good news, and believe me, I had to pay for it, the retina’s attached, all the veins and everything were healthy, so it wasn’t from getting hit. So there was a good thing. They said it was a protein buildup behind the eye. But you know what, it gave me a whole new lease on life. When you don’t have your eyesight for three week, there were bad times. I couldn’t even watch YouTube, I had to order in Uber Eats, and I had to scroll and really zoom in to actually see the menu. Since I’ve come back from it, I’ve been extra motivated and doing great. So it was a lousy thing, but it was something that made me appreciate how important your eyesight is.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
