Why Can’t I See?!

Have you ever heard of any type of eye surgery? Do you know someone who has had eye surgery? Well it turns out that there are TONS of different types of eye surgery. The most commonly thought of one is LASIK eye surgery. I will later on in this blog thoroughly explain what that is if you don’t already know. Eye surgery seemed to be an interesting topic because I have actually had eye surgery. When I was younger my left eye was slightly crooked and I had even worse vision than I have now (hard to believe isn’t it?).

So to make a long story short my mom brought me into the hospital to have the surgery. For some reason I was really excited, but it was because I didn’t know what was going on. I don’t remember much after that, but I do remember them giving me laughing gas and knocking out. I also remember having to keep my eyes closed for a long period of time, and being my stubborn little self that didn’t work out to well since I was at my grandparent’s house. I remember having to have my grandma feed me because I couldn’t eat, it was pretty weird. I remember my mom telling me not to open my eyes for a while, but I couldn’t any way because it hurt really badly when I tried to open them. I remember forcing them open at the end of the day, and getting in trouble but I think it was fine because my eyes didn’t hurt anymore. This is just one of the thousands of stories out there, but this one is special because it was mine.

Like stated previously there are TONS of different types of eye surgeries. I would have to say LASIK eye surgery is the most common surgery in this day and age. As a matter of fact as of 2012, there have been 19 million procedures done in the United States. LASIK eye surgery stands for Laser-In-Situ-Keratomileusis. In this procedure, your surgeon will use a laser in substitute of a scalpel. The process is similar though, what this is for is to make your vision a little better by making small incisions to the cornea. Personally I feel this certain procedure is safer than the other one, plus the recovery time is a lot faster.

Glaucoma is one of the most common problems in the field of eye surgery. Glaucoma is when you have a lot of pressure in your eye, so your vision becomes really poor. So to fix this your surgeon will poke a hole in your eye, creating a drainage hole. Or you could have Laser surgery which was explained earlier. It all depends on what your doctor recommends. They will most likely suggest for you to have laser eye surgery, due to the fact that it is safer, more precise, and the recovery time is fairly quicker.

There are special cases where the laser surgery doesn’t successfully lower your eye pressure, and the pressure starts to rise again. This is when your doctor would probably suggest conventional surgery which involves a scalpel instead of a laser.

cornea (eye image)

Recently the first successful cornea transplant has been performed at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston, Massachusetts! The doctor who performed the surgery was Roberto Pineda II M.D. In this surgery Dr. Pineda used donor tissue, using the preloaded donor tissue might minimize the risk of damage to the endothelial cells. This may lead to better outcomes for the patient. Dr. Pineda states “Reducing any variables that could interfere with a patient’s ability to successfully regain sight after surgery is significant”. He is basically telling us that lowering any variables that could harm the patient to regain their sight after surgery is significant, so this proves that this is a VERY dangerous procedure due to the fact that you could have permanent damage to your eye. This also proves that our technology is advancing pretty quickly; we can already replace your cornea, which is crazy!

To finish there are many types of eye problems in the world, and there are many ways to fix those problems. The human race has learned how to harness a laser’s power to help recuse the pressure in your eyes, and even if that doesn’t work we have mastered the skill of precision, to make small incisions with a scalpel. This isn’t it either! We have recently been able to replace the corneas in your eyes! This all proves that the medical field is continually growing more and more advance. Soon we will probably be able to replace your whole eye!

Here are some questions to think about

What is cataract surgery?

How many different types of surgery are there, and what are they called?

When was eye surgery first discovered? 

Here is a video on a surgery: (If you have low tolerance for blood I wouldn’t suggest watching this)

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