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It looked like a piece of frosted glass at the center of Fredi Martinez's right eye.
The 26-year-old chef had dealt for years with increasingly blurry vision from a worsening cataract, caused by an eye injury as a child in Mexico when he was thrown off a donkey and into a thorn bush.
Called a white or traumatic cataract, his was harder and denser than those typically caused by aging. But on Saturday, surgeons at the University of Utah's John A. Moran Eye Center pulverized the troublesome cloud with an ultrasound pulse and removed it, replacing the eye's lens with an artificial one.
Martinez was one of 27 Utahns to have their cataracts removed, for free, at Moran and at The Eye Institute of Utah as part of the twice-yearly Charity Surgery Day.
Including Saturday's patients, about 100 low-income and largely uninsured Utahns have received such eye surgeries since the charitable events began in 2012. The Eye Institute of Utah took part for the first time on Saturday, treating 14 of the 27 patients.
Cataract surgeries are the most common procedures, but surgeons have removed growths (called pterygia), and even conducted corneal transplants.
Patients also get as much follow-up care as they need and new glasses, if necessary. A cataract surgery typically can cost an uninsured patient $3,000 to $5,000 per eye.
The roughly 40 Moran employees working Saturday, from check-in clerks to surgeons, volunteered their time, and medical and pharmaceutical supplies were donated.
The Moran program is something of a model for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Foundation, said Moran spokeswoman Esther Pomeroy. The foundation has a new program called Operation Sight that helps fund such charitable projects, including in Utah.
Patients are referred by free medical clinics or by ophthamologists who come across people who are losing their vision to cataracts but unable to pay for surgery.
"It's a quick, cost-effective way to help a lot of people," Pomeroy said.
Chief resident surgeon Trent Richards said one of the patients Saturday was back for a second time. After surgeons removed the cataract in her other eye last fall, she was able to see well enough to work and ride the bus for the first time.
"It totally changed her life," he said.
Richards said it's "awesome" to be able to restore vision. "That's why I went into this."
Julia Kleinschmidt, a retired ophthalmology professor who ran the Moran's patient support program for 22 years, said she always volunteers on Charity Surgery Day.
"This signals a return to quality of life for people," said Kleinschmidt. "It's huge."
Martinez, who learned of the free cataract removal from a friend, was able to leave the Moran Eye Center with his wife, Hany, and nephew, Cris Hernandez, soon after his surgery.
Twitter: @KristenMoulton