www.augenklinik-stralsund.de/en/operations/cataract-surgery
Cataract surgery
Augenklinik Stralsund, Praxis Dr. med. M. Fechner
D-18435 Stralsund
Große Parower Straße 47
Klinikum am Sund
3rd Floor
Contact
Tel: +49 3831 380002
Fax: +49 3831 380003
When, due to cataract formation, the natural lense of the eye is opacified, the problem can be tackled in three ways:
| - | intracapsular cataract operation is a method by which the natural lens is completely taken out of the eye; a large surgical wound is needed for that, which is why nowadays this technique has been abandoned except for certain special cases. |
| - | extracapsular cataract operation is a method by which the hard nucleus of the lens as a whole is removed, the theca of the natural lens (capsule of the lens) remains, however, anchored in the eye; again, nowadays, this surgical technique is used only as an exception. |
| - | nowadays, phakoemulsification (literally: liquefaction of the lens) due to its excellent results and low rate of complications is considered as the treatment of choice. This technique, by intraocular pulverization of the hard lenticular nucleus with ultrasound and aspiration of its remnants by means of a small metal tube, necessitates an opening of only 2 – 3 mm for the removal of a crystalline lens of sometimes more than 10 mm diameter. This small wound is mechanically stable immediately after the operation, thus enabling cataract surgery to be performed on an outpatient basis. The so-called “laser-phako” is a modification of this principle, whereby essentially the energy to pulverize the hard lenticular nucleus is created not by ultrasound but by a femtosecond-laser. This new technique claims to be even less invasive and of even lower risks than conventional phakoemulsification; however, this point has yet to be proven. Therefore, and in view of the considerable costs of laser-phako, which presently (2015) are not yet covered by health-insurances, this new technique has not been so far introduced into the Augenklinik Stralsund. |
For all surgical methods the basic consideration applies in equal measure that the resulting visual quality does not exclusively depend from the operation itself, but from other non-surgical factors as well; in the presence of – for instance – an advanced AMD even a perfectly performed cataract-operation might not restore good vision.