When my sister was in elementary school, she started always sitting in the front row of desks at school. One of her teachers noticed this habit and arranged a meeting with my parents. This caring teacher told my parents that she thought my sister needed glasses. When my sister visited an optometrist, this professional diagnosed her with a severe case of astigmatism. He also informed my parents that she was nearsighted as well. Due to her eye issues, my sister had to start wearing glasses all of the time. Her new glasses helped her tremendously in school. She no longer had to sit in the front of the classroom in order to view the notes placed on the board. On this blog, you will discover the importance of getting your kids’ eyes checked by an optometrist before enrolling them in school.
Traditionally, the only way to help solve cataracts involved a high amount of risk. These days, however, there are more advanced technologies that can make the process more precise and with less chance of something going wrong. Here are a few examples of advanced cataract surgeries that can help you if you have problems with cataracts and want as little chance of side effect damage as possible.
Ultrasound
A cataract refers to what happens when the lens part of your eye becomes clouded. One technique that is used to help fix this problem involves using a small device that creates ultrasound vibrations.
First, you're given local anesthesia, and then a small incision is made in your cornea. Then, the device is inserted into that part of the eye. The vibrations from the ultrasound destroy the damaged lens part of your eye, breaking it up into little pieces.
These pieces are vacuumed out of the eye through the small original incision. After this is done, a new artificial lens is put in the eye in place of the old damaged one. This is called an "intraocular lens," shortened to IOL.
The lens is usually made of plastic or silicone, and it can be strong enough that you won't even need glasses that much after surgery. Overall though, it's the ultrasonic technology that makes it possible to safely remove the old lens in the first place without hurting the rest of your eye.
Lasers
During cataract surgery, sometimes a laser is used to make the initial cut. In fact, some research indicates that using a laser to make the first cut can soften up the cataract and make it even easier to break up and remove with ultrasound.
Removing the damaged lens without damaging the eye was only made possible at all initially with ultrasound, but it can still be dangerous since it's such a sensitive area. According to the research, softening the cataract with a laser means that there's less chance that the rest of the eye will be damaged during the procedure.
The goal of emerging laser technology is to reduce how much the vibration ultrasonic device needs to be used since too much of it has been known to increase side effects that hinder recovery.
Side effects can include clouding of the cornea from the procedure, for example. That's why using technologies with as much precision as possible can go a long way to making sure that the surgery goes completely smoothly.
Share14 April 2015
