Traditional vs Laser Cataract Surgery

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Though the traditional method of removing cataract is one of the safest and most successful one, laser surgery has brought revolution in the sphere of cataract treatment.

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Traditional cataract surgery vs. laser cataract surgery
Though the traditional method of removing cataract is one of the safest and
most successful one, laser surgery has brought revolution in the sphere of
cataract treatment. Laser surgery makes use of an advanced femtosecond laser
to assist or replace the hand-held surgical tools for the following steps in the
cataract surgery:
i. Corneal incision
ii. Anterior capsulotomy
iii. Lens and cataract fragmentation
The first step in every cataract surgery is to make an incision in the cornea.
Generally in a traditional cataract surgery the surgeon makes use of a diamond
blade to create the incision, which is done in the spot where the cornea meets
the sclera. Through this incision, the surgeon gets access to the interior of the
eye and thus can easily break up/ remove the cataract which clouded the eye's
natural lens. Once this is done an intraocular lens (IOL) is inserted and
implanted to replace the cloudy natural lens.

The same process in a laser cataract surgery is done with a sophisticated 3-D
image of the eye called OCT – optical coherence tomography. With the OCT
image and a femtosecond laser, the incision can be performed in an accurate
manner and the chances of the self-sealing process after the surgery is high
along with extremely low risk of infection. This way compared to the traditional
surgerical method, laser surgery improves the visual outcomes of cataract
surgery.
Once the incision is made the next step is the removal of the front portion of the
capsule which surrounds the eye's natural lens. This is done to gain access to the

cataract. While doing this, it is extremely important that the remaining part of
the lens capsule remains intact in the eye and is not damaged during cataract
surgery. In the traditional cataract surgery this step is done with the help of
forceps, while in the laser cataract surgery femtosecond laser is used to
execute this step. Recent studies have showed that those cases wherein the
capsulotomy was done using laser, the centering of the intraocular lens and the
IOL positioning has been invariably better as compared to the traditional
method.
The next step after capsulotomy is removal of the cataract. One major problem
which surgeons, using traditional method, face during this step is the heat buildup in the incision due to the use of ultrasound energy. This heat build-up at
times burns the incision and even promotes astigmatism. On the other hand if
laser energy is used in the same situation, the cataract is in fact softened and
broken down into tiny pieces reducing the risk of heat build-up and capsule
breakage.
Thus overall though the traditional method of cataract removal is safe, laser
surgery helps in getting better results without causing any knid of damage to the
surrounding cells and tissues. In fact it is proved to be 10 times more precise as
compared to the manual techniques of surgery and is today seen as a better
option by many leading cataract surgeons.
For more information on laser cataract surgery and related issues, visit
www.sankaraeye.com. Sankara Eye Hospital has the top cataract surgeons and
is regarded as the best eye hospital in Ludhiana.

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