Cataract laser treatment developed
Published on 12 January 2012 01:00 PM
A new treatment which dissolves cataracts with the help of lasers has been used for the first time in the UK.
Harley Street's London Eye Hospital has introduced the technology advancement.
At the moment, cataract removal involves a surgeon making an incision into the eye's lens with a blade, so the cataract can then be disintegrated using ultrasound at a high frequency. This process is known as phacoemulsification.
While this does not hold too many risks and yields good results, the current treatment is still invasive, so new methods are being developed, including the FemtoSecond laser treatment.
The FemtoSecond treatment can create a 3D model of the eye, then cause the cataract to dissolve.
Bobby Qureshi, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the hospital, said: 'The FemtoSecond laser has been specially designed to bring an extraordinary level of accuracy and reproducibility to refractive cataract surgery.
'No matter how accurate manual procedures may have seemed in the past, they simply cannot compete with the accuracy and precision that is now possible with laser cataract removal, which means that this surgery is now safer than ever before.'
He also said that cataracts affect six out of 10 people aged over 60, and some younger patients too.
Copyright Press Association 2012