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Avoiding blindness
In order to delay the onset of cataract, the following tips are really beneficial: * Take good and nourishing diet rich in proteins and vitamins. Food such as liver, eggs, milk products, carrots, cabbages and yeast are good. * Protect your eyes from excessive exposure to sunray, x-rays, intense heat and injuries. * Disease such as diabetes and syphilis should be treated early and effectively However, once cataract is here, its only treatment is surgery. Previously this procedure was conducted with the help of a 12mm cut. Today, the very same procedure has been reduced to 1mm. This procedure is called Phakonit. In this surgery, instruments for Phakonit are passed into the eye and the cataract is cut into small pieces with the help of special machinery and finally the whole cataract is removed. Thereafter an intraocular lens is placed through the 1mm incision. Rollable IOLs, that are slipped through the incision and into the eye which then gradually opens, have solved the problem of performing a procedure at such a minute scale. Such modern skills and advancement of cataract surgery have made the success rate of the cataract procedure between 97 to 99 per cent. Though complications like infection and hemorrhage can occur, they are very rare. DOCTOR ON A MISSION Dr Amar Agarwal, the pioneer of 1mm cataract procedure, was recently in town. In a meeting with him, Dr Agarwal stressed the need for closer cooperation between the medical fraternities of India and Pakistan. “Cooperation between the doctors here and in India is necessary. The people of the land are prone to almost the same diseases and problems. Therefore, an exchange of doctors would really facilitate the exchange of knowledge and thus benefit the patients.” Part of the family that looks after a chain of eye hospitals throughout India, Dr Agarwal spoke of a proposed tele-link. “If approved and accomplished this will help in numerous ways; we will be able to operate from India, deliver lectures to post-grads and under-grads and share our knowledge with the Pakistani medical fraternity, as will be possible for our Pakistani friends to do the same from here.” To this end, he signed an MOU with Liaquat Medical University, Jamshoro that he hopes will signal the start of cooperation between India and Pakistan. But then, he came to the subject that he is most passionate about: cataract. “Fifty to 60 per cent of cataract in the subcontinent is treatable. My advice to those who are suffering from cataract is that don’t wait for it to mature. Go to the doctor at the earliest possible stage and have it removed.” Today, Dr Agarwal stressed, the procedure of removing the cataract had become simpler, so much so that it’s a walk-in, walk-out surgery. Says Dr Agarwal, “Previously a 12mm opening was used to remove a cataract. That has now been replaced by a procedure called Phakonit that needs just a 1mm cut. In this process the operation is completed within a few minutes and the patient is off to his home. With the 1mm surgery there is no scar and no staying in the hospital involved. Therefore no injection, stitching or pad is necessary. Otherwise, the 12mm-cut operation not only forces a patient to stay in the hospital for a longer period and it also used to leave a scar. The patients can go back to their work the very next day.” Previously, the 12mm or 10mm procedures forced a patient to take a rest of 45 days and after that suitable glasses were prescribed. This meant a loss of valuable time for people like businessmen and others for who time is as good as gold. For this reason as well, many preferred to ignore their cataract problems and rush to the doctor at the eleventh hour, when, in most cases, all had been lost. Not anymore. Dr Agarwal says that glasses can be gotten rid of through this five minute surgery. And there aren’t any additional costs either. It improves the quality of life. So is this something like a subcontinent-only remedy for cataract? Not at all stresses Dr Agarwal. “Phakonit is not something unique to this region only. The procedure has been accepted and endorsed in the United States as well.” And he has performed the same procedure in Pakistan as well. “I had earlier visited Pakistan six months back also. The thing that I noticed most was that the ophthalmologists here are well aquatinted with all the latest in eye surgery. They also have the equipment to support for this purpose.” But the thing that really surprised Dr Agarwal was something that medical science may not have an answer to. “In my visits to Pakistan, the love and affection shown to me by the layman is something truly amazing.” | ||
Cataract is avoidable and, when needed, removable. There is nothing to make fuss about|
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