Due to ageing, proteins in the lens begin to clump together forming opaque clusters leading to clouding of the lens and changing the colour.
People affecting by Cataract generally complain of blurring vision – more during the night while reading and driving.
Faded or dull colours, Sensitivity to light, Double vision and a Watery feeling in the eyes.
To restore the focusing capacity of the eye as a natural lens will be having +80D with +20D refractive power.
It can be operated in an early stage. Total maturity of Cataract is not mandatory to get operated. Decisions for surgery can be taken whenever daily routine activities are affected like Reading, Watching TV, Computer usage, Walking, Driving, etc.
Over time, Cataract increase in density and will result in blindness. Sometimes, hyper maturity can result in dislocation of lens and inflammation in the eyeball, leading to severe pain the eyes.
Phacoemulsification technique is the best, most effective technique practised worldwide.
No. It is usually done under topical anaesthesia.
No. Once a Cataract has been removed it cannot recur. A condition called posterior capsular thickening or opacification can blur the vision which can be treated by a simple YAG laser procedure.
Cataract surgery is one of the safest procedures in the world and has an overall success rate of 98%. Continuous innovations in techniques and instruments keep making the procedure safer by the day.
Within a couple of days with minimal discomfort, people can resume working. However, to be on the safer side, better to resume to work after one week.
The ideal candidate is over 18 years of age with healthy eyes and a stable refractive status. LASIK treatment can correct a wide range of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. Generally, a LASIK surgeon conducts essential pre LASIK assessment tests to know whether you are a suitable candidate for LASIK.
No. There is no upper age limit but you should ideally not have any cataracts.
Yes. Hyperopia up to 6 diopters can be corrected with LASIK treatment. If your prescription is higher than that you may have to undergo phakic intraocular lens implantation or clear lens extraction.
Yes. We are able to correct astigmatism through the reshaping of the cornea with the laser.
LASIK treatment and other types of refractive surgery are considered “cosmetic” by insurance companies and are usually not covered by insurance at this time. However, there are some exceptions and you may call your individual insurance TPA directly if you have any questions regarding your coverage.
In addition to surgeon control, an extremely advanced eye tracker on our laser monitors eye movements and compensates faster than the eye can move. This safety feature is not present on all lasers. With any large deviations, the surgeon or the eye tracker will simply stop the laser ablation and restart the process when the eye is perfectly aligned.
The laser is designed to pick up where it left off.
No. Patients experience virtually no discomfort during the LASIK procedure.
LASIK operation takes about 4 to 5 minutes for an eye. The actual laser ablation time is in terms of seconds.
Yes. Following an initial healing period of three to six months, the effect of the treatment is life-long. Rarely, a minimal regression might occur.
Your corrected vision following LASIK operation depends on the strength of your prescription as well as other individual factors.
The correction may be fine-tuned with retreatment, known as an enhancement, and is generally performed after the first six months.
The safety of LASIK operation is one of the main reasons it has become so popular. Severe complications are extremely rare. The laser has been in widespread use for the treatment of myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism over 15 years. Millions of successful procedures have been performed around the world.
The most common side effects of LASIK operation are fluctuating vision (which only lasts for the first few weeks), night glare (which typically lasts for the first few weeks), and dry eye (which only lasts for the first few weeks).
In progressive keratoconus, in order to strengthen the cornea C3R is recommended. The minimum corneal thickness required is 400microns and above.
The duration required is roughly 60 minutes. 30 mins for riboflavin application and 30 mins for the UV light exposure.
C3R is done under topical Anaesthesia. The post-procedural pain may persist for 2 to 7 days.
The blurring will persist for a couple of days to 10 days.
The main purpose of the C3R procedure is to stabilize keratoconus so that contact lenses or glasses can be used to have a clear, better vision.
No. To know the effect of C3R we have to wait for a minimum of 3 to 6 months.
After 2 to 3 days usually, people who undergo C3R will be comfortable enough to go back to work.
Implantable contact lenses are often referred to as phakic IOLs, refers to an eye with the natural lens still intact. Therefore, the main difference between implantable contact lenses and traditional IOLs is the fact that an ICL works in conjunction with the eye’s crystalline lens while an IOL replaces the eye’s natural lens.
Yes. Although all surgical procedures carry some risk of complications, implantable contact lenses have a proven track record of safety.
No. Typically only one eye is treated at a time.
No. Although you may experience slight discomfort during the procedure, you should not be able to feel a properly implanted ICL.
Almost immediately following the ICL treatment, you should experience a clearer vision. The benefits of implantable contact lenses include convenience, safety and amazing results.
A trained ophthalmologist will insert the ICL through a small micro-incision, placing it inside the eye just behind the iris in front of the eye’s natural lens. The ICL is designed not to touch any internal eye structures and stay in place with no special care.
The Toric ICL is a variant of ICL. Toric ICL corrects your spherical error as well as your astigmatism (cylindrical power) in one single procedure. Each lens is custom made to meet the needs of each individual eye.
No, most patients state that they are very comfortable throughout the procedure. Your ophthalmologist will use a topical anaesthetic drop prior to the procedure and may choose to administer a light sedative as well.
One advantage of the ICL is that it offers treatment flexibility. If your vision changes dramatically after receiving the implant, your doctor can remove and replace it. If necessary, another procedure can be performed at any time.
The ICL is made of Collamer®, a highly biocompatible advanced lens material which contains a small amount of purified collagen.
In the vast majority of cases, especially in the early stages, there are few signs or symptoms. In the later stages of the disease, symptoms can occur that include:
Early detection of open-angle Glaucoma is extremely important because there are no early symptoms. Fortunately, routine eye exams are a major factor in early detection.
People with a family history of Glaucoma should be checked at regular intervals in their 30s to establish a baseline. Initially, detection is based often on intraocular pressure readings, but also includes observation of the optic nerve as well as evaluation of optic nerve function using visual field tests.
No. But our suggestion would be to avoid smoking and excessive alcohol, eat a healthy diet, keep your weight down, exercise, take nutritional products and be sure to see your eye specialist regularly.
No. But to prevent blindness, it’s important to undergo proper Glaucoma treatment.
Doctors usually prescribe special Glaucoma eye drops that reduce Intraocular pressure. These are used once or several times a day, depending on the medication. If the drops don’t work, surgery may be the next step. In some cases, laser or surgery might be the first option for treatment.
Squint is a misalignment of the two eyes so that both the eyes are not looking in the same direction. This misalignment may be constant, being present throughout the day, or it may be intermittent, appear sometimes and the rest of the time the eyes may be straight.
It is a common condition among children. It may also occur in adults.
The exact cause of Squint is not exactly known. The movement of each eye is controlled by six muscles. Each of these muscle acts along with its counterpart in the other eye to keep both the eyes aligned properly. A loss of coordination between the muscles of the two eyes leads to misalignment. This misalignment may be the same in all directions of gaze, or in some conditions, the misalignment may be more in one direction of gaze, e.g., in Squint due to nerve palsy.
Sometimes a refractive error hypermetropia (long sight) may lead to inward deviation of the eye. Poor vision in an eye because of some other eye disease like cataract, etc. may also cause the eye to deviate.
Therefore it is important in all the cases of Squint, especially in children, to have a thorough eye checkup to rule out any other cause of loss of vision.
Under normal circumstances, when both the eyes have good vision and they are aligned properly, they focus on the same object. Each of the eyes sends a picture of the same object, viewed from a slightly different angle. These two images reach the brain, where they are fused to form a single three-dimensional picture with depth perception. This is known as Binocular Single Vision.
A child would ignore the image coming from the deviated eye and thus sees only one image. But in the process, he loses the depth perception. This suppression of the image from the deviating eye results in poor development of vision in this eye, which is known as amblyopia.
An adult can not ignore the image from either eye and therefore has double vision. This can be very annoying and may interfere with work.
In a child, the parents may notice the deviation of eyes. It is important to remember that the eyes of a newborn are rarely aligned at birth. Most establish alignment at 3-4 weeks of age. Therefore Squint in any child who is more than one month old must be taken seriously and should be evaluated by an ophthalmologist.
Adults may notice double vision or misalignment of the eyes.
The Squint is diagnosed by an ophthalmologist. He or she would do a few special tests to confirm the Squint, to try and find out the cause and to quantify the amount of deviation. In some cases, there may be a false appearance of Squint due to a broad nasal bridge in a child. An ophthalmologist will be able to differentiate between a true Squint and false Squint.
The aim of treatment of Squint in order of importance are:
First, the eyes are checked to see if they have any refractive error that may be responsible for Squint. If there is any significant refractive error present, it is treated first. In some cases (accommodative Squint) a correction of refractive error is all that may be required to treat Squint.
Next, the eyes are checked for the presence of amblyopia. It is important to treat the amblyopia before the surgery for Squint. The parents are explained about the importance of this treatment, as their cooperation is very crucial for the success of this treatment.
Yes. Surgery can not replace the need for glasses. If the child has a significant refractive error, glasses are a must. In some cases wearing glasses may correct Squint. In other cases, wearing glasses help the eyes see clearly. This clear vision is very important for the treatment of amblyopia and also for maintaining the coordination of eyes, once they have been aligned by surgery.
In a child, the treatment of Squint and any associated amblyopia should be started as soon as possible. Generally speaking, the younger the age at which amblyopia is treated, the better is the chance of recovery of vision. Remember that the child would never grow out of Squint. A delay in treatment may decrease the chances of getting a good alignment and vision.
The central portion of the retina directly opposite the lens is called the macula. It is rich in cones, the cells which enable us to see fine detail and colour. There are three classes of cones, each most sensitive to a different colour: red, green or blue.
In macular degeneration, the light-sensing cells of the macula mysteriously malfunction and may over time cease to work. Macular degeneration occurs most often in people over 60 years old, in which case it is called Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD). Much less common are several hereditary forms of macular degeneration, which usually affect children or teenagers. Collectively, they are called Juvenile Heredo-Macular Degeneration. They include Best’s Disease, Stargardt’s Disease, Sorsby’s Disease and some others.
The major symptoms of macular degeneration are:
Laser photocoagulation is a technique used by ophthalmic surgeons to treat several conditions, including leakage from submacular neovascularizations. The laser beam essentially “cooks” the tissue which is exposed to it. The beam has a very small cross-section, which is aimed at a leakage point revealed by angiography. With luck, the cooking, or coagulation, of the cells at the leakage point will stop or slow leakage, hence the progress of macular degeneration caused by the leakage.
Only about half of patients with wet ARMD are candidates for laser photocoagulation because those with an occult or subfoveal leakage are not candidates. Also, laser photocoagulation is only effective about half the time it is done as a treatment for wet macular degeneration. When effective, the benefit lasts on an average of about one year.
These are the drugs injected into the vitreous to reduce the growth of new blood vessels. This is proved effective in wet ARMD.
Diabetic Retinopathy is a condition in which high blood sugar causes retinal blood vessels to swell and leak blood.(Diabetic Micro Angiopathy)
Fluctuating blood sugar levels increase the risk of this disease, as does long-term diabetes. Most people don’t develop diabetic retinopathy until they’ve had diabetes for at least 10 years. However, adult-onset (Type 2) diabetics should be evaluated at the time of diagnosis and every year thereafter, whereas juvenile-onset (Type 1) diabetics should be evaluated every year after diagnosis.
Keeping your blood sugar at an even level can help to prevent Diabetic Retinopathy. If you have high blood pressure, keeping that under control is helpful as well. Even controlled diabetes can lead to diabetic retinopathy, so you should have your eyes examined once a year. That way, your doctor can begin treating any retinal damage as soon as possible.
In the early stages of Diabetic Retinopathy, you might have no symptoms at all or you might have blurred vision. In the later stages, you develop a cloudy vision, blind spots or floaters. But never assume that good vision means all is well in the retina. This can be misleading and leads to disaster.
Diabetic Retinopathy is classified as either nonproliferative (background) or proliferative. Nonproliferative retinopathy is the early stage, where small retinal blood vessels break and leak.
In proliferative retinopathy, new blood vessels grow abnormally within the retina. This new growth can cause bleeding or a retinal detachment, which can lead to vision loss. The new blood vessels may also grow or bleed into the vitreous humor, the transparent gel filling the eyeball in front of the retina. Proliferative retinopathy is much more serious than the nonproliferative form and can lead to total blindness.
No. Early treatment can slow the progression of diabetic retinopathy, but is not likely to reverse any vision loss.
The best treatment is to keep your diabetes under control. Blood pressure control also helps. Your doctor may decide on laser photocoagulation to cause regression of leaking blood vessels and prevent new blood vessel growth. If blood gets into the vitreous humor, your doctor might want to perform a procedure called a vitrectomy.
It means the examination of the eyes which includes visual acuity testing for distance and near, refraction test to verify the glasses power for the eyes, slit lamp examination for observing the fine details of the eye by magnification, intraocular pressure (IOP) reading, and dilated fundus examination to examine the retina in detail. Colour vision and muscle balance test will be performed whenever required.
No. It is only an aid to gain a clear vision.
But one should remember that not all red eyes are “madras” eyes. Apart from infections, allergy, inflammations, eye strain, dry eyes and sudden increase of IOP can also cause red eyes. Consulting an eye doctor is always essential.
Reduction in tear production, absence of tears due to various lacrimal gland disorders causes dry eye problems.
When tear production is reduced, osmolarity in tear film increases and it dries up the corneal surface cells and they fall leaving raw areas.
Refractive error like Long sight, Astigmatism presbyopia, Convergence and accommodation weakness, diseases of the eye like Glaucoma, inflammation, Papilloedema, should be kept in mind whenever a person suffers from headache.
Welcome to Sunayana’s Discussion Forum. We understand that when it comes to our eyes, we like to take the utmost care of them & know every way to do that. We also like to have clarity about anything that might bother us regarding our eyes. That is exactly what this section is for. Let us know any related to your eyes that you would like to have clarity about and the Consultants at Sunayana Eye Hospital will do our best to address them.
How often should I get an eye test done?
It depends on the age and medical history of that person.