Encouraging ‘aye’ for new laser cataract op
CATARACT operations have gone high-tech, with both the private and public sectors offering bladeless surgery that cuts the eye with a laser.
The procedure – where the damaged lens is removed and an artificial one fitted to correct the vision – is the bread-and-butter of eye specialists.
But it requires precision because, if the new lens is just a millimetre out of place, the person may still need to wear spectacles after the operation.
In the new technique, which has been carried out on about a dozen patients in Singapore in the past 10 days, everything is computerised. A laser, instead of a blade, is used to cut both the surface and the inner parts of the eye.
Minute eye movements are taken into account, leading to precision surgery. As a result, the operation is safer and likely to yield better results, said eye specialists.
It costs about S$5,300 (RM12,907) for each eye at Parkway Eye Centre in Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth – which is around S$800 (RM1,948) more than the traditional operation.
The Singapore National Eye Centre has started booking patients for the new technique and expects to carry out its first operation later this month.
The median cost for conventional cataract surgery is S$3,093(RM7,532) for private patients and S$984 (RM2,396) for those who are subsidised, and a spokesman said there would be no extra charge for the new technique “for the time being”.
Cataracts are a type of clouding in the patient’s lens. They are common in the elderly and cause symptoms such as blurred eyesight and poor night vision.
Last year, more than 33,300 cataract operations were carried out in Singapore – the vast majority using ultrasound to dissolve the damaged lens, then sucking it out with a pump.
The surgery takes only 15 minutes, and patients go home the same day. In an ideal situation, they will no longer need glasses.
Soh Poh Huay, 71, became the first person in Singapore to try out the new method on March 26. Her surgery was performed by Dr Lee Hung Ming, the medical director of the Parkway Eye Centre at Gleneagles.
She chose him because he had treated her years before, and opted for the bladeless surgery after he told her it would be better.
“Eyesight is precious so the higher cost is not a problem,” she said.— The Straits Times/ Asia News Network