Cataract is the most common eye disease causing blindness in China. It is caused by the transformation of proteins within the lens, resulting in vision loss. There are no medications that can completely prevent and treat cataracts, and the only effective treatment is surgery to remove the clouded lens and place a suitable IOL. Since the 1970s, cataract surgery has been performed using ultrasound emulsification technology, which has now become the mainstream method of cataract surgery treatment. The surgeon simply makes a two-millimeter incision in the cornea, removes the lens capsule in a circular fashion, places an ultrasound emulsification handle to break up the cloudy lens and suction it out, and then implants an IOL.
However, with the improvement of people’s living and knowledge level, the demand for visual quality is getting higher and higher. Cataract patients are no longer satisfied with the low requirement of “just seeing” after surgery, but also want to see clearly and permanently. In order to provide patients with more perfect visual results, Zhongshan Eye Center of Sun Yat-sen University has introduced the LenSx Femtosecond Laser System, the world’s leading technology in cataract treatment, officially announcing the leap into the Femtosecond Laser era for cataract patients.
Femtosecond laser is currently the laser with the shortest proven pulses, releasing energy in as little as one trillionth of a second, making it ideally suited for eye surgeries that require a high degree of precision. As in laser myopia correction (LASIK) surgery, the femtosecond laser provides the repeatability, safety, accuracy and neutrality required for cataract surgery.
Femtosecond laser-assisted cataract ultrasound phacoemulsification is a revolutionary achievement in cataract surgery in recent years. This results in precise, minimally invasive, safe and fast surgical results, which is the most advanced surgical method at home and abroad.
Advantages of Femtosecond Laser Cataract Treatment 1. Intelligent operation, minimally invasive and efficient: During traditional cataract ultrasound emulsification surgery, most of the operation steps depend on the operator’s manual completion, especially the use of scalpel to make incisions and manual tearing of the anterior lens capsule, which largely depends on the operator’s experience and skills, making it difficult to ensure the accuracy and integrity of its position, and intraoperative complications such as accidental tearing of the capsule tissue may occur. This can affect other surgical operations and the position of the IOL implantation, thus affecting the quality of the patient’s postoperative vision. Femtosecond laser technology can replace the traditional cataract scalpel and most manual and unstable operations with precise cutting and near-perfect capsulorrhexis after scanning the patient’s eyes, reducing surgical trauma, improving post-operative visual quality and reducing surgical risks.
2. Precise and safe “no” damage: In cataract ultrasound emulsification surgery, the heat energy released from ultrasound energy can damage the cornea and adjacent intraocular tissues. The use of femtosecond laser to crush the lens nucleus reduces the use of ultrasound energy during surgery, thus reducing the damage to eye tissues and greatly reducing postoperative complications such as trauma, inflammation and infection, and the patient’s vision recovers faster after surgery.
3. Wide range of surgical adaptations: In the past, cataracts reached the level of blindness, commonly known as long ripening before surgery. Due to the safety, reliability and high precision of the new femtosecond laser technology, the comfort and satisfaction of patients have been greatly improved. As long as patients feel that their vision is not clear and affects their quality of life, they can choose surgery. This avoids the long and painful process of patients going from blurred vision to blindness and the possibility of complications such as glaucoma and uveitis caused by overripe cataracts. In addition, if the patient has astigmatism, highly accurate astigmatism correction can be performed at the same time of cataract surgery.
4. Restoration of perfect vision after surgery: Recently, the introduction of several new types of IOLs has brought a boon to cataract patients, but these high-end multifunctional IOLs require every step of the entire operation to be accurate. However, the errors brought about by human operation limit the effect of these high-end multifunctional IOLs to a certain extent. The femtosecond laser cataract treatment system is assisted by computerized scanning and imaging technology throughout the whole process, which makes the cutting shape and depth more fine and perfect, making the IOL implantation position more accurate and centered, and can better meet patients’ pursuit of perfect vision after surgery.
But at present, “femtosecond laser” is like the luxury of LV, is a high-end surgery, the fee is relatively high, than the traditional surgery is nearly double the expensive, and femtosecond laser surgery part has not been included in the medical insurance, so more service for the high quality of vision requirements of patients.
It is still important to remind everyone that whether you choose the popular ultrasound emulsification surgery or the high-end femtosecond laser surgery, you should first go to a professional department for a comprehensive evaluation, and you should follow the doctor’s instructions for regular review at the hospital after the surgery.