The advanced bladeless cataract surgery is the wave of the future for cataract surgery, while traditional cataract surgery has not changed much in more than 30 years.
Traditional manual cataract surgery The traditional procedure is per- formed by using knives to cut the cornea; and needles and forceps to tear the lens capsule inside of the eye.
The cataract has to be man- ually sculpted inside the eye, requiring greater energy that causes more corneal endotheli- al cell loss and more inflamma- tion to the eye.
The traditional method is dependent on a human’s esti- mation of depth and breadth to prevent intra-operative compli- cations.
Modern 100% bladeless advanced laser cataract surgery Singapore Now, with 100% bladeless cataract surgery, the femto- second laser makes all the in- cisions and breaks up the cata- ract in less than 60 seconds.
With artificial intelligence programming abilities, the laser provides higher precision and predictability than traditional cataract surgery.
It uses real-time optical co- herence tomography (OCT) to accurately pre-program inci- sions at different levels with- in the eye, and then performs all the incisions in a bladeless fashion under total computer guidance.
This offers better lens implant
Ask The Experts Is the bladeless procedure a better choice for cataract surgery?
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centration, greater precision for visual outcomes and, most im- portantly, minimises the chanc- es of intra-operative complica- tions caused by human errors.
Incisions are not only done bladeless but are also fully cus- tomised for each specific eye to a much greater degree than any surgeon can do.
At the same time, astigma- tism can be corrected during the cataract surgery with more accuracy than we are currently able to achieve using a blade.
More patients can achieve 20/20 vision after surgery with- out the need for glasses.
The laser’s ability to break up the cataract in 20 seconds means that the cataract can be removed with less energy inside the eye compared to manual phacoemulsification technique.
This enables more rapid visual recovery and is also more beneficial for the long-term bi- omechanical strength of the cornea due to less corneal en- dothelial cell loss.
Moving forward Some of the reasons why some eye surgeons still do not adopt the technology include the large capital investment in the equip- ment, and overcoming an initial steep learning curve to convert to advanced bladeless cataract surgery.
However, new technology can succeed if it ultimately im- proves lives.
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Today, bladeless LASIK is re- garded as the gold standard in vision correction.
Although femtosecond laser for LASIK is just as big a capital investment for clinics world- wide, LASIK surgeons have cho- sen to adopt the 100% bladeless method as it offers improved short- and long-term safety, precision and predictability.
Likewise for advanced blade- less cataract surgery, the United States Food and Drug Adminis- tration (FDA) approved of it in 2010, and leaders in refractive cataract surgery are propo- nents of it. I predict it will be the worldwide gold standard in the next few years.