Is your vision increasingly blurring or dimming? Are you experiencing more and more difficulty driving at night? Are your eyes becoming more sensitive to light and glare, while at the same time need brighter light when reading? Are you seeing “halos” around lights, experience double vision in a single eye or are seeing colors fading or yellowing? Are you compelled to change your eyeglass or contact lens prescription more frequently? If you are experiencing these symptoms, you may be developing cataracts and therefore must see an eye doctor as soon as possible.
Cataract is the blurring of the natural lens of the eye, often experienced as “clouding” of vision, like looking through a frosty or fogged-up window. The condition makes it more difficult to read, drive a car, or see facial expressions, particularly in situations where there is low illumination.
Most cataracts develop gradually and don’t interfere with eyesight so much early on. But then in time, cataracts eventually hinder vision. During the early stages, stronger lighting and eyeglasses can help compensate for cataracts. But when the impairment is already so bad that it interferes with your usual activities, cataract surgery is the usual recourse. Fortunately, cataract surgery is generally a safe, effective procedure.
This so-called lens of the eye is enclosed in a clear lining called lens capsule. In a cataract surgery, the surgeon opens the front portion of the lens capsule in order to reach the cataract and break it into pieces, remove it and replace it with an artificial lens called intraocular lens (IOL). More and more experts on cataract surgery are sprouting in the country, and it’s a good thing there is Asian Eye Institute to even better cataract treatment procedures with fruitful research and milestone innovations.
Last May 2017, Asian Eye Institute Glaucoma, Cornea and Refractive Surgery (LASIK), and Cataract specialist Dr. Robert Ang bagged the TOPGUN Best Overall Instructor award at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) Symposium and Congress in Los Angeles, California. He bested over 13 other surgeons from Asia and the United States of America who were challenged to share tips and techniques that can make cataract surgical cases smooth and more efficient. Dr. Ang was picked after he spoke about a capsule marking technique that makes cataract surgeries easier by using a readily available and relatively inexpensive tool.
Opening the front portion of the lens capsule is one of the three critical steps in performing a cataract surgery, according to Dr. Ang. “It should be consistent, appropriately-sized and centered to make sure that there is a more stable position to place the IOL and provide patients with better vision”, he stressed. Digital markers are usually utilized for guiding surgeons in the creation of a consistently sized and round capsule opening. However, these markers could be quite costly.
Rather than using these expensive digital markers, Dr. Ang proposed the idea of using a more viable option: an optical zone marker. According to him, “The optical zone marker is available in different sizes and can create a small temporary mark on the cornea. Since it is usually used in LASIK surgeries, it is also easily available to all eye doctors.” The ingenuity drew international accolades and has made cataract surgery and treatment vastly more accessible. And this is only one example of how Dr. Ang of Asian Eye Institute advances research in the field of cataract surgery and other special fields as intraocular lens technology, refractive laser eye surgery, presbyopia (the loss of near vision), dry eyes and glaucoma.
Finally, he professed, “Doing research studies allows Asian Eye Institute to do its part in advancing the science of eye care and gives patients access to the latest cutting-edge technology”.
* Published in print version (Voice of the South, Volume 13, No. 7)
