Most people with refractive errors are fit for refractive surgeries except people who have certain corneal diseases which will show by examination or the investigations done before the surgery.
The difference in cost is because a separate FemtoLASER machine is used to create the flap as well as the one used for the correction.
Because of the infinitely precise cut made by the FemtoLASER, the healing of the cornea is faster and the change that happens to the cornea is as little as possible. All the new techniques aim to keep the cornea as healthy as possible.
A cataract is a change that happens to the lens inside the eye to lose its transparency. It usually happens in old age but may also happen earlier in some diseases or when taking certain medications as steroids for a long time.
There would be an increasingly poor vision which may be noticed more in bright light and sometimes there may be an improvement in the ability to read without reading glasses.
A cataract is treated by surgery using ultrasound power (Phaco) to remove the cataract and put an artificial lens in its place.
Unlike the old techniques for removal of the cataract, removing it by Phaco or ultrasound power is done through a very small opening which usually doesn’t need any stitches.
This is according to the needs of the patient, so if the patient drives or needs a good vision for his work, he will notice the poor vision earlier and will need to have the surgery done as soon as possible, sometimes the daily needs of the patient do not demand very strong vision and in this case, the patient will not notice until later. Generally, there is nothing such as too early if the patient has a complaint, but it should not be postponed until the cataract becomes too hard making the surgery more difficult or maybe causing complications.
The patient usually leaves the hospital or clinic shortly after the surgery and the eye may be covered for one day after which the patient can lead a normal life.
Glaucoma is a disease where the pressure of the eye may be high and causes damage to the nerve of the eye. It may come as a sudden severe rise in the pressure and the patient feels severe pain and nausea and in these cases, emergency treatment is needed. The other type is a long term rise in pressure and in these cases, the patient doesn’t feel anything until there is the advanced loss of eyesight.
Glaucoma is treated first with antiglaucoma eye drops and sometimes the patient needs three or four different medications and may still not be controlled. Some cases need surgery, and there is a new treatment by LASER (SLT).
SLT is a treatment that uses LASER pointed to the angle of the eye to open the passages for the water inside the eye.
Is SLT an alternative to surgery?
In many cases, SLT works in controlling the pressure so that a patient will not need surgery or at last, postpone it for a few tears and in some cases, the patient may not need to use any eye drops after the treatment.
Diabetes affects the whole body, and to the eye, it causes damage to the blood vessels of the retina (diabetic retinopathy) which causes leaking of fluid and protein through these vessels as well as bleeding and shortage of oxygen reaching the retina. This is followed by the production of new blood vessels that are very weak and bleed easily. The problem keeps on progressing unless treated.
Treatment is decided according to the severity of the disease, it may be just follow-up or by LASER or injection inside the eye. In very advanced cases, surgery may be needed.
Retinal LASER is used to close the blood new wind weak vessels to prevent bleeding and to prevent leakage.
Normal single spot LASER takes a long time to make sometimes more than a thousand spots and needs two or more sessions, while ‘Multi spot LASER’ makes a large number of spots at the same time taking much less time.
The drug injected into the eye for diabetic retinopathy (Lucentis) causes the newly formed blood vessels to disappear, preventing bleeding and it also helps for the leakage to be absorbed.
Sometimes a baby is born and the tube for drainage of tears has not yet opened in one or both of his eyes and this causes constant tearing and repeated infection.
These cases usually need no treatment except for the infections. Massaging the area as instructed by the doctor is usually enough and the condition resolves before the baby is 9 months and if it doesn’t improve it is treated by opening the tubes at the age of 1 year which is effective in most cases.