During my independent study ophthalmology rotation this morning, I got to watch a cataract removal surgery called phacoemulsification.
In a nutshell, it involves cutting a hole in the cornea, inserting a probe into the diseased lens where the cataract has formed, using ultrasound waves to "chew" up the lens, and then placing an artificial lens.
And it was simultaneously just about the most awesome and the most horrifying surgery I've ever watched.
The 'ewwwww' factor was not helped by the fact that we were watching the surgical field magnified on a huge video screen, so the eyeball was about a foot and a half across.
And I absolutely had to turn away when they were starting on the first eye and you could see a huge-looking but actually very miniature scalpel blade slicing into the eye, with aqueous fluid gushing out around it.
But once you stop thinking of the eye as an actual eyeball attached to an actual living dog that ideally wants to be able to use its eyeball after it's been sliced-and-diced, then this surgery is so, SO cool to watch.
It's also so neat to think that after just 30-45 minutes per eye, this dog, who has been blind since becoming a diabetic a year ago, will have basically "good as new" vision. (Okay, there's also the $3000 the owners are coughing up for the phacoemulsification, but if I had a few thousand dollars to burn, this might be a good investment.)
However, I'm afraid the 'ew' factor prevails. I'll never be an ophthalmologist!
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Me either...yuck!
ReplyDeleteHaving had cataract surgery on one, trauma damaged, eye I can attest to both the miracle results and the ewww-factor. For me it was watching that damn great needle coming to inject into my eye before the surgery. I still cringe at the thought.
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