Laser surgery for the treatment of cataracts has proven difficult for those with small eye sizes, but Dr. Pham’s new CO2 laser based technique for making incisions has shown to be highly effective.
San Jose, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/28/2013 -- Cataracts are opacities of the eye lens as a result of a number of different factors and become more prevalent with age; diabetes, prolonged exposure to sunlight, tobacco use and alcohol consumption are all contributors. Cataracts affect millions of people around the world and are currently the number one cause of preventable blindness. The new laser surgery for cataract has proven to be highly effective and safe in allowing surgeons to remove the existing lens and replace it with a new, man-made lens. This laser, termed femtosecond, fires for one quadrillionth of a second (a millionth of a billionth) into the cataract and breaks the cataract into small pieces to be removed by suctioning. This method of cataract surgery, however, has limitation for people with small eyes, but Dr. Randal Pham has published his innovative research work on a new laser method to bloodlessly lengthen the eyelid to allow successful completion of femtosecond laser cataract surgery.
The CO2 laser is another laser that can be used to cut the corner of the eyelids where the upper and lower eyelids meet on the side near the temple. The CO2 laser was shown to be superior to cold-steel alternatives because it can cauterize and cut at the same time therefore making the cut bloodless, allowing the eyelid to heal in 1 day. This CO2 laser procedure lengthens the eyelid to allow surgeons to fit an eyeball-stabilizing device onto the eye to keep it from moving, making laser surgery for cataract safe and effective. The bloodless procedure helps control bleeding even in elderlies who are on blood thinners like aspirin and warfarin.
This method of lengthening the eyelid using laser can be applied to other refractive surgeries including LASIK to allow the safe performance of the laser procedure on the eye. This technology can also help those nervous patients who squeeze the eyelid tightly during any eye surgery. It also works for those patients who have problems with moving the eye or moving the body during eye surgery. The wide applications of this innovative method will open up new opportunities for all laser refractive surgery.
According to Dr. Sterling S. Baker, considered to be the father of laser eyelid surgery, “Dr. Randal Pham’s innovation is a major contribution to the field that will help all eye surgeons around the world, who can now safely perform eye surgery even on the most difficult cases.”
About Dr. Randal Pham
Dr. Pham is the first ophthalmologist and oculofacial plastic surgeon to receive the Best Clinical Science Award by the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Randal Pham graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley in Biochemistry. He obtained his M.D. degree with excellent citation from UCSF. He is the first Vietnamese American appointed to the faculty of the Department of Ophthalmology of the School of Medicine at Stanford University. For his work on laser safety around the eye, he received the Stanford Provost Honor in 2003. For more information, please visit: http://cataractsurgerysj.com/