The purpose of traditional cataract surgery is to restore sight, so that patients can see light and the shadows of people and objects after surgery is considered successful. Nowadays, as people’s demand for quality of life increases, cataract surgery is no longer just about restoring sight, but about maximizing post-operative visual quality, not only so that you can see, but also so that you can see clearly, permanently and comfortably. This change in concept directly requires the introduction of the concept of “refraction” in surgery.
One of the most prominent changes is the change in surgical incisions and surgical techniques. At present, the cataract ultrasonic emulsion aspiration combined with IOL implantation surgery performed at Xiamen Kehong Eye Hospital has a surgical incision of only 2.8 mm. The surgical time routinely takes only 3-10 minutes, with a small surgical incision, small postoperative astigmatism, fast recovery, and good results, and no sutures, no hanging bottles, and no hospitalization. The use of such a small incision has turned the refractive changes caused by the surgery itself into almost zero, making cataract surgery almost “perfect”.
In addition, the continuous improvement of IOL technology and biomaterials has made it possible to change from non-folding to folding, from simple correction of nearsightedness and farsightedness to astigmatism, and from improvement of distance vision to improvement of total vision. For example, blue light filtering IOLs that can protect the fundus of the eye, aspheric IOLs that do not distort vision, IOLs that can correct astigmatism, progressive diffractive IOLs and multifocal adjustable IOLs that can obtain better distance and near vision and get rid of the bondage of presbyopic lenses can be implanted to bring patients more satisfactory post-operative vision and more perfect visual quality.
The combination of tiny surgical incisions and advanced functional IOLs enables perfect post-operative visual quality and allows for a much earlier timing of cataract surgery, so that patients do not have to wait until the cataract is mature before surgery. As long as the vision or visual quality decreases due to cataract, which affects daily work, study and life, surgery can be considered even if the vision is still above 0.3 or even about 0.5, and some foreign countries have normal vision of 1.0. Cataract surgery is no longer satisfied with making your eyes see again, but has developed to the point that, just like eyeglasses, the purpose is to improve the quality of vision and thus the quality of life, not only to let you see, but also to see clearly, permanently and comfortably! Cataract surgery has entered a new era of “refractive cataract surgery”.