If considering cataract surgery St Louis residents should know a few basic facts about the procedure beforehand. The surgery is performed to extract the affected lens and to replace it with an artificial one. The condition results from the formation of opacities in the lens due to a metabolic disorder affecting the lens fibres. This results in visual impairment.
Because of advances in opthalmology, the procedure does not need one to be admitted to hospital. It is done in as few as 15 minutes in the outpatient. Local anaesthetics or topical anaesthetics are effective enough in producing a numbing effect. The success rate is very high with close to 90% of patients showing very significant improvement of vision after the intervention.
There are two types of this surgery currently available are phacoemulsification (or simply phaco) and the conventional extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE). Intracapsular cataract extraction ( also referred to as ICCE) is what was practiced previously and involved removal of both the affected lens and its capsule. A variant of this technique, known as cryoextraction, involved freezing the lens in liquid nitrogen to ease its removal. ICCE has been largely been replaced by the newer techniques because of its high rate of complications. Cryoextraction is now reserved for subluxed lenses.
Phaco utilizes foldable lenses. The damaged one is fragmented into smaller pieces that are easy to emulsify and aspirate. In ECCE this is not necessary and an incision large enough is made to remove the affected lens in its entirety. Only the capsule is left to be used as support for the implant. The lenses used here are non-foldable. Phaco is preferred by many because the incision used is very small and does not require closure with sutures.
Two types of intraocular lenses are used. These are the monofocal and the multifocal lenses. The multifocal are actually an improvement of the monofocal and are actually replacing them in many areas. Their advantage is that the user is able to see over several distances: near, intermediate and far whereas with monofocal only one distance can be viewed. Thus both glasses and contact lenses are not necessary.
There are several complications of cataract surgery St Louis residents should know about. They include bleeding inside the eye, increased pressure (glaucoma), retinal detachment and swelling of the retina among others. Some people have also reported partial or complete loss of vision.
Because of advances in opthalmology, the procedure does not need one to be admitted to hospital. It is done in as few as 15 minutes in the outpatient. Local anaesthetics or topical anaesthetics are effective enough in producing a numbing effect. The success rate is very high with close to 90% of patients showing very significant improvement of vision after the intervention.
There are two types of this surgery currently available are phacoemulsification (or simply phaco) and the conventional extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE). Intracapsular cataract extraction ( also referred to as ICCE) is what was practiced previously and involved removal of both the affected lens and its capsule. A variant of this technique, known as cryoextraction, involved freezing the lens in liquid nitrogen to ease its removal. ICCE has been largely been replaced by the newer techniques because of its high rate of complications. Cryoextraction is now reserved for subluxed lenses.
Phaco utilizes foldable lenses. The damaged one is fragmented into smaller pieces that are easy to emulsify and aspirate. In ECCE this is not necessary and an incision large enough is made to remove the affected lens in its entirety. Only the capsule is left to be used as support for the implant. The lenses used here are non-foldable. Phaco is preferred by many because the incision used is very small and does not require closure with sutures.
Two types of intraocular lenses are used. These are the monofocal and the multifocal lenses. The multifocal are actually an improvement of the monofocal and are actually replacing them in many areas. Their advantage is that the user is able to see over several distances: near, intermediate and far whereas with monofocal only one distance can be viewed. Thus both glasses and contact lenses are not necessary.
There are several complications of cataract surgery St Louis residents should know about. They include bleeding inside the eye, increased pressure (glaucoma), retinal detachment and swelling of the retina among others. Some people have also reported partial or complete loss of vision.
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