At present, there are a number of studies being conducted by the National Eye Institute focusing on factors associated with age-related cataract development.

The first study aims to measure levels of sunlight exposure and how that may increase risk for cataracts. The second study looks at vitamin supplements that show varying results in delaying the onset of age-related cataracts. Third, a series of studies on how genetics impact cataract development have shown the most promise so far.

An Iridotomy is a laser procedure used in the treatment of acute, closed-angle Glaucoma. With Iridotomy, a laser creates a hole on the edge of the iris that allows fluid to move from the front through the back of the eye, reducing the pressure inside the eye. This opening created by laser prevents spikes in pressure inside the eye.

Patients have a tough time understanding exactly why they’d need an iridotomy because it is a matter of narrow angles in the eye. When eye surgeons describe these narrow angles to acute, closed-angle Glaucoma patients, patients hear only abstract terms and confusing technical explanations.

The Visante OCT is a mapping technology that lets eye doctors capture images of a person’s eye. Eye doctors can illustrate to the patient exactly what’s happening with the narrowing angles inside their eye. The printout helps to determine if iridotomy treatment is necessary or not.

Ptosis is the term for drooping eyelids, so ptosis surgery is the procedure to lift the droop that can happen from skin around the eyes. Dryness. Long periods of being awake. Aging. For these and other reasons the muscles in the eyelids weaken, skin loses its elasticity causing lids to droop.

An incision is made along the crease of the lid so that no scar is noticeable after the fact. To attain the best result, it is important to research your eye surgeon to make sure he or she is well-trained and has a clean surgery record.

After the surgery, you might have swelling on the eyelids. You will usually recover fully within 3-6 months after ptosis surgery. After surgery,the wound should be cleaned regularly to avoid infection.

In the past decade or two, a trend has begun among medical device corporations building out their own or making use of bioskills labs to educated their surgeons and salespeople how to use a medical device on cadaveric tissue. It’s the old adage that you’d rather have your surgeon practice on a cadaver than learn a surgery on you. It’s no different for eye surgeons, who also gain invaluable experience practicing on cadaver eyes.

The problem is that diseased, donor eyes are hard to find. Birds eyes and that of mice have been used in some surgical trainings. But a disease of the macula requires only primate eyes since only primates have maculas. It is very difficult for surgical training facilities to collect a supply of human cadaver eyes who had geographic atrophy. For this reason, progress in the investigation of diseases of the macula is slow.

Your eye is full of a fluid knows as vitreous. A Vitrectomy is performed to remove vitreous from the central cavity in your eye if you have diabetic retinopathy, macular hole or a retinal detachment. A vitrectomy eye surgery is most often done on an outpatient basis.

As with some of the other surgeries we’ve mentioned like LASIK, Cataract Surgery and cosmetic eyelid surgery, a local anesthetic will be added to your eye to numb its surface so you don’t feel anything. Your ophthalmologist makes a small incision on the side of your eye and inserts a microscopic cutting device is insert to suck out the jelly-like fluid. The trick for the eye doctor is to maintain steady eye pressure during the surgery.

After vitreous fluid is removed, the ophthalmologist will fill your eye with a special saline solution intended to mimic the texture and function of the original vitreous. Sometimes the ophthalmologist will put a tiny stitch at the incision. The recovery is similar to LASIK and Cataract Surgery in that it is generally cleared up within a week, and you have a series of drops to use to stave off inflammation and infection.

Having an astigmatism isn’t a big deal, especially if you have a very mild one. An astigmatism basically means that the shape of your eye is more like a football than a basketball. It implies that there is a steepness to your cornea. Most people have a slight astigmatism. Nobody’s perfect, right?

While you may never have any vision problems as a result of your astigmatism, later in life it can become an issue when cataracts form. The cataract removal process occurs inside the eye, and the implant used matches your presription without accounting for the astigmatism. This means you’ll have trouble with your vision even after cataract surgery.

There are two methods that eye surgeons use to treat the astigmatism during cataract surgery. A specialty lens implant, called a TORIC LENS can accomodate the astigmatism. This means that you may have to pay a bit more than what Medicare would cover for a standard lens implant. If not, the other method is called “relaxing incision” in which the surgeon literally incises your cornea to relax it from being so steep; thus relaxing the astigmatism so that you can see just fine out of the standard lens implant.

According to the February 2012 issue of Eyenet, most ophthalmologists prefer to use the Toric lens implant than perform a relaxing incision.

Corneal surgery is risky because you are born with a finite layer of tissue. If your cornea swells from trauma or a symptom of disease, you would have to undergo corneal eye surgery.

DSEK is a less invasive, alternative surgery that replaces the traditional corneal transplant or cornea graft procedure in the event that the endothelial layer of your cornea swells due to disease or trauma. DSEK stands for Descemet’s Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty.

This new method of corneal eye surgery is preferred because it takes less time and heals faster than the alternative procedure which would be a full cornea transplant. Only a select few ophthalmologists have begun to perform DSEK in the U.S. because it requires extreme precision by the surgeon.

Las Vegas is lucky because there are two ophthalmologists at Shepherd Eye Center who perform DSEK: Dr. Steven Hansen and Dr. Robert Taylor.