Advertorial Cataracts – What You Should Know Cataract surgery is the most common type of operation performed <strong>in</strong> the world As we age, we will get cataracts – a grey cloud<strong>in</strong>g of the eyes’ lens. This is part of ag<strong>in</strong>g. The cataract can be successfully removed by surgery and replaced by new artificial lens. Dr Jov<strong>in</strong>a See, a Senior Consultant Eye Specialist at Sh<strong>in</strong>agawa LASIK & Eye Centre, expla<strong>in</strong>ed that usually around 50 years of age, the lens <strong>in</strong> the eye becomes a little yellow (nuclear sclerotic cataract) and everyth<strong>in</strong>g may start to look a little darker. “You will f<strong>in</strong>d that you need a little more light for read<strong>in</strong>g or do<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>gs. Cataracts can also cause an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> myopia (short sightedness). The short sightedness will blur the far vision. Usually between the ages of 25 till 40 years the optic power of your specs is quite stable but after that the spec’s power starts <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g and you have to keep chang<strong>in</strong>g glasses every one or two years. Eventually there will come a po<strong>in</strong>t when even chang<strong>in</strong>g glasses will not help clear the blurred vision. The colour of the eyes’ lens will change from yellow to brown and ultimately turn totally white and then bl<strong>in</strong>dness will occur.” However, as Dr See assures, the good news is that one can do a surgery to restore vision. A second type of cataract grows at the back of the eye lens (posterior subcapsular) and has a different set of symptoms. She said, “Even if there’s a little bit of cataract here, it will affect any light travell<strong>in</strong>g through to the ret<strong>in</strong>a. Vision gets blurred when out on a sunny day while it improves <strong>in</strong>doors, bright lights look blurred <strong>in</strong> the dark, etc.” The third most common cataract is the cortical type where it starts grow<strong>in</strong>g from the sides of the lens. There are no symptoms dur<strong>in</strong>g the early stages but when it reaches the centre, it causes blurred vision. Treatments For the first type of cataract, a person needs frequent change <strong>in</strong> his spectacles prescription as the vision is blurred even with spectacles. For the second type of cataract, one will usually need surgery even <strong>in</strong> the early stages. For the third type, one does not need surgery until the cataract starts to block the central visual axis. The most important factor to decide whether to go for surgery is how your day-today activities, especially those related to your work and lifestyle, are affected. In fact, modern day lifestyles and occupational demands are quicken<strong>in</strong>g the need for surgery as the advent of blurr<strong>in</strong>g becomes more noticeable with the use of smartphones and computers. In S<strong>in</strong>gapore, hospitals offer two types of surgeries - ‘big wound’ or ‘small wound’ surgery. However, medical <strong>in</strong>novation has replaced ‘big wound’ with ‘small wound’ (phacoemulsification) surgery. Dr See po<strong>in</strong>ted out that with phacoemulsification there is no need for stitches (only a two millimetre cut is made) and no astigmatism is <strong>in</strong>duced. Patients can immediately see well on the day or night of surgery and go back to work the next day (those work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> clean office environment). The operation itself takes about 15 m<strong>in</strong>utes for each eye and the risk of <strong>in</strong>fection from such a small wound is much lower. After a week, you can go back to your usual sports or exercises. This phacoemulsification procedure is available at Sh<strong>in</strong>agawa LASIK & Eye Centre. Latest Bladeless Last year, femtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery was <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong> S<strong>in</strong>gapore. Just like <strong>in</strong> LASIK, this is a blade-free procedure <strong>in</strong> microsurgery. A laser is used to make the twomillimetre cut. The outcome so far is as safe as phacoemulsification. Cataract: Eye lens will eventually turn white and require an operation to replace with a new lens Lens Implant Only standard mono-focal lenses can be used for big wound surgery. These are simple lenses with one degree, so if you have no astigmatism before surgery, you can see far well but for near vision, you still have to wear read<strong>in</strong>g glasses. For small wound surgery, patients have the option of premium lenses. This <strong>in</strong>cludes multi-focal lenses to take care of read<strong>in</strong>g, so you will not need read<strong>in</strong>g glasses. Those suffer<strong>in</strong>g from astigmatism before the operation can have specially customised astigmatism lenses; so even if they have a high level of astigmatism, they won’t need spectacles even for far vision. Both standard and premium lenses once <strong>in</strong>stalled are permanent and lasts one’s lifetime. Also, cataracts once removed, will never grow back. 42 IndoConnect VOL. 1 No. 4 2013
VOL. 1 No. 4 2013 IndoConnect 43
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