Dr Michael Martin and his team operate on cataract and glaucoma patients. The operations are performed on an outpatient basis at the Centre Nord Vaudois Ophtalmologique.
In this way, patients can return home within a short period of time after the operation. These operations do not require narcosis, but only local anaesthesia with eye drops.
Cataract surgery
Cataracts cannot be treated with new glasses or medication. It must be operated on. The majority of people develop a cataract during their lifetime. As a result, cataract surgery is the most commonly performed operation in the world.
This minimally painful operation is performed on an outpatient basis at the CNVO, and lasts around 30 minutes. The eye is rendered insensitive using anaesthetic eye drops. No injections are given. The opaque lens is removed using ultrasound or a laser, and replaced by an artificial lens.
This is introduced into the eye through an opening only 2 mm long at the edge of the cornea.
This lens is deployed in the place of the crystalline lens and cannot be seen. The artificial lens can correct myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia or even astigmatism. Modern multifocal lenses make it possible in some cases to see without glasses at all distances (see refractive surgery).
Myopia operation
Laser surgery for myopia consists of making the curvature of the cornea less bulging. The surgical technique for myopia is Femtosecond Lasik and in some cases refractive photokeratectomy (PRK). The myopic eye is slightly too long: the image is formed in front of the retina. The myopic eye sees blurred at a distance. The surgical technique allows treatment of myopia up to about -10 dioptres.
Vitreoretinal surgery
Vitreoretinal surgery is a large family of diverse procedures involving the vitreous cavity and retina. It includes surgery for complications of cataract, retinal detachment, macula (epi-retinal or macular membrane, macular hole), venous thrombosis, diabetic retinopathy, and other retinal vascular disorders, ocular trauma, and intraocular infection among other things.
In all cases, these are serious pathologies of the retina that can compromise a good visual recovery. Different surgical techniques may be necessary to try and treat the problem in the best possible way.