Vale Eye Surgeons (Cardiff)

Mr Tom Betts is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at the University Hospital of Wales with a special interest in oculoplastic surgery and cataract surgery. He completed comprehensive training over seven years across Wales and subspecialty training in Oculoplastics and Glaucoma in New Zealand for three years before returning to Cardiff in 2020.

Mr Betts performs small incision cataract surgery and he specialises in patients with a wide array of oculoplastic conditions. This includes eyelid malposition, watery eyes and diseases of the eye socket.

Mr Betts has performed thousands of cataract surgeries over the last 12 years and has audited data of complications well below the national average. He has been performing oculoplastic surgery for over six years.

Mr Betts is the Ophthalmic lead at Cardiff and Vale UHB’s Skin Cancer MDT and the Deputy Clinical Director for University Hospital of Wales’ Ophthalmology Department.

He is a Director for Vale Eye Surgeons and a clinical and educational supervisor for junior doctors.

Mr Betts is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Cardiff University School of Optometry and Vision Sciences.

Ms Magdalena Popiela is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the University Hospital of Wales with a specialist interest in cornea and anterior segment surgery. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2007 and completed her specialist ophthalmic training in Wales.

She undertook a fellowship at Southampton University Hospital, one of the UK’s leading corneal transplant centres, and has since performed thousands of cataract and anterior segment procedures. Her specialist surgical interests include partial thickness corneal transplants and vision enhancing cataract surgery. Ms Popiela’s expertise extends beyond general ophthalmology and includes cataract surgery in patients with corneal disease or previous refractive surgery, vision enhancing lens surgery, corneal transplantation, pterygium surgery, and the medical management of ocular surface disease.

Prior to her appointment at the University Hospital of Wales, she worked as a consultant ophthalmologist and clinical lead in Gibraltar, where she performed the territory’s first corneal transplant and established anterior segment services. She is currently the Clinical Lead for cornea and collagen crosslinking at the University Hospital of Wales and a Director at Vale Eye Surgeons. Throughout her career, Ms Popiela has received several prestigious awards for research and has obtained a Master’s degree in Cataract and Refractive Surgery from Ulster University.

She also maintains strong academic links with Cardiff University’s Optometry School and professional connections in Gibraltar.