Our Services - Cataract

Cataract is the clouding of the crystalline lens. The crystalline lens is like the autofocusing lens of a camera. It focuses an image automatically onto the retina. When the lens becomes opaque, it is called cataract.

Do I Have Cataract?
Vision becomes blurry in people suffering from cataract. You will see glare under sunlight or strong lights. Sometimes, you will see double or several ghost images and coloured objects may lose their original tone. Some presbyopes may find that they can read without reading glasses because their myopia has increased. They also notice that they cannot see distant objects clearly. The lens becomes white when the cataract is mature and vision drops to hand motion or light perception. Hypermature cataract may cause complications like glaucoma and uveitis, which may cause eye redness, eye pain, photophobia, headache, nausea and vomiting.



How Is Cataract Formed?
Cataracts occur most frequently in senior patients. Chemical changes accumulate in the lens protein as a natural degenerative process and the lens becomes opaque. Younger patients can also suffer from cataract especially when they have high myopia, diabetes mellitus or other inherited degenerative diseases. Secondary cataract can also result from ocular trauma, long term use of steroids, and long- term exposure to ultraviolet light or infrared rays.



Can Cataract Be Cured by Eyedrops or Oral Medications?
There are no medications that can reverse the process of cataract formation. At present, cataract can only be treated with surgery and intraocular lens implantation.

Advanced Surgery Restores Vision and Reduces Refractive Errors
Early cataract has little effect on vision and no treatment is necessary. Changing your glasses prescription can sometimes restore vision if the cataract has induced a refractive change. When there is a significant decrease of vision which affects your work or your daily life, cataract extraction is indicated. It is not necessary to wait until the cataract becomes mature. Traditional cataract surgery employs a large limbal incision, extraction of cataract and implantation of an intraocular lens. The wound is then closed with very fine sutures. The more advanced cataract surgery involves a small corneal incision, phacoemulsification and implantation of a foldable lens. Usually no suture or only one suture is required to close the wound because the small incision is self-sealing. Surgery may be performed with topical anaesthesia or other forms of anaesthesia as indicated.



Bladeless Laser Cataract Surgery
Laser cataract surgery is a revolution in cataract surgery with unparalleled precision and reproducibility. The employment of femtosecond laser rays enables the surgery to be performed without the need for surgical blade, resulting in a safe and perfect cataract operation.

The first step in Femtosecond Laser Cataract Surgery is an assessment of anterior segment structures by high technology imaging techniques, which scan the cornea, anterior segment of the eye and determine the anterior and posterior surfaces and the thickness of the cataract. With these measurements, the surgeon plans the steps to be performed by the femtosecond laser. The femtosecond laser will perform anterior capsulotomy, form a round opening in the capsule, divide the cataract into multiple pieces and make the corneal incisions. With the use of laser, corneal incisions could be made without any blade cutting the eye. A lower dose of ultrasound will be required for phacoemulsification. This reduces the surgical risk of cornea damage, and allows for speedier recovery.

This revolutionary technology increases safety and precision in cataract surgery.

Advantages of Laser Cataract Surgery:

• Laser cuts are very precise
• Increases predictability in postoperative refraction results
• The cataract is divided by and all entry points made with laser precision, resulting in a bladeless procedure
• Complicated cases and very hard cataracts can be handled more easily with lower dose of ultrasound energy
• Tighter wound and less risk of infection

Intraocular Lens
If you have myopia, hyperopia astigmatism, or presbyopia, they can be corrected with appropriate intraocular lens.

Depending on pre-operative planning and post-operative refraction, you may still need glasses or contact lens to correct any residual refractive error.



Different foldable intraocular lenses

Monofocal Lens Implants
Basic Lens: A Basic Intraocular Lens Implant is a fixed single focus lens that is designed to improve vision at just one distance, either far or near. The potential drawback is that after surgery you will probably need to wear glasses for near or far vision, even if you have never worn any glasses before surgery.

Toric Lens: Many people have some degree of astigmatism (oval shaped cornea instead of the round shape), but a minor level of astigmatism is considered normal and requires no correction. For patients with moderate to high degrees of astigmatism, you can choose to have your astigmatism permanently reduced by having a Toric Lens Implant, but still, you will need to wear glasses for near or far vision.

Presbyopia-Correcting Lens Implants
Presbyopia is the natural age-related loss of flexibility of your lens to focus from far to near or vice versa, requiring you to use reading glasses, bifocals or multifocals spectacles. Moreover, cataract surgery itself also induces presbyopia since your own accommodating lens is removed.

Multifocal Lens: Multifocal Lens Implants are manufactured with very fine rings with multiple powers. so you can see well at far and near focusing points. They do not require any muscular activity in your eyes for focusing, but a period of adjustment is necessary to learn to use this new optical system. The compromise is that there is a greater chance of seeing halos or rings around lights, glare and unclear vision as compared to a basic monofocal lens. Over time most people get accustomed to these disturbances and less prone to notice them, while others may continue to notice them long after surgery. You may have some difficulty distinguishing an object from a dark background, especially in areas with less light. You should take extra care when driving at night. Toric Multifocal Lens ar also available to correct astigmatism at the same time.

Laser Capsulotomy after Cataract Surgery
The transparent capsule that supports the intraocular lens may become cloudy after 1-2 years. A simple laser capsulotomy can restore the vision in a few minutes.