Wednesday 11 November 2020

Corneal Transplantation

The cornea is a thin mirror-like membrane that is situated in front of the iris and pupil of the eye. It is the cornea that enables us to see by focusing the light that enters the eye.

What is Corneal Transplantation?

Sometimes due to an injury or a disease, there may be some damage to your cornea. In such a situation with the help of a corneal transplant, your doctor may be able to improve or restore your vision. The central part of the cornea is taken out and replaced with a smaller-sized healthy cornea obtained from a donor. As an outpatient procedure, this surgery is generally recommended only for selected cases.

Why do I need a Corneal Transplantation?

Corneal Transplantation can help in restoring or improving the vision, in case you have a damaged cornea. It is helpful in healing:

  • Degeneration of innermost layer of cornea (Fuchs dystrophy)
  • Keratoconus
  • Bulging cornea
  • Thinning of the cornea
  • Scarring, clouding or swelling in the cornea
  • A corneal ulcer

How is Corneal Transplant Done?

In most cases a corneal transplant is done under anaesthesia, that would prevent pain and movement of the eye muscles. The surgery is done using a microscope. Your doctor/surgeon would remove a piece of your cornea and replace it with a new cornea, cut and fitted to your size, it will be sewn using an ultra-fine thread which will be removed later.

The surgery generally takes about an hour or two, you may spend some time in the recovery room to let the anaesthesia wear-off completely.

What to Expect?

Most patients are able to get their vision restored after a corneal transplant, though the result depends on your surgery as well as the extent of damage to your eye. There is a risk of cornea rejection, however, it can be managed with medications.

Corneal disorders and diseases are one of most common cause of blindness all over the world. If you or anyone you know has symptoms that are concerning, consult your doctor immediately.

                                                      

Blog Reviewed By: Dr. Lalit Kumar
Mail Us: amrithospitalchennai@gmail.com 

Friday 25 September 2020

Diabetic Retinopathy - What is it and how is it treated?

Retinopathy refers to any disease that affects the human retina, i.e. the innermost layer of the eye. And, when diabetes is that disease, it is called Diabetic Retinopathy. Any person who has Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes or has been a long term diabetic with uncontrolled blood sugar, is at high risk of being afflicted by retinopathy. 


There usually are no early stage symptoms, But if it worsens, the following can occur:

  • Double vision or blurry distorted vision.
  • Retinal blood vessels start bleeding into the eye, causing dark floating spots.
  • Pain due to damage to the optic nerve, caused by high blood pressure.
  • Total vision loss.

It can also led to the following very serious eye conditions:

  • Diabetic Macular Edema (DME) - Edema means a swelling caused by an injury or inflammation. This happens when retinal blood vessels start leaking fluid causing a swelling, which leads to blurry vision. 
  • Neovascular Glaucoma - when abnormal growth of blood vessels block the fluid from draining out of the eye, leading damage to the nerves.
  • Retinal Detachment - scarring on the back of the eye pulls the retina back from the eye in a condition called tractional retinal detachment.

Checking & Diagnosis:

This starts with a dilated eye exam, where eye drops are used to dilate or widen the pupil of the eye, followed by Vision Acuity Test to check clarity of vision; Vision Field Test to check side vision; Muscle Function Test to check the eye muscles; Pupil Response Test to check pupil’s response to light and a Tonometry Test to check eye blood pressure. If severe DME is suspected, a Fluorescein Angiogram would be advised. Here a harmless dye is injected into the blood allowing photographs to be taken of the retinal blood vessels.

Treatment: 

Injections: in DME patients a protein called VEGF is known to increase blood leakage and swelling. Injecting anti-VEGF medication blocks VEGF and improves the condition.

Laser Treatment: Here lasers are used to reduce swelling, shrink blood vessels to stop leakage.

Eye Surgery / Vitrectomy: this is advised when there is a lot of bleeding, scarring or to remove and replace the vitreous, i.e. the gel that fills the human eye with a special gas or silicone oil. It is also used to reattach displaced retina. 

Every diabetic is at risk of suffering Diabetic Retinopathy, with Type 1 and Type 2 patients being at highest risk. For a diabetic, regular eye exams are highly recommended, as early diagnosis can stop the damage and prevent blindness.


Blog Reviewed By: Dr. Lalit Kumar
Mail Us: amrithospitalchennai@gmail.com 

Monday 10 August 2020

Amrit Hospitals - Safety & Service Above All

 The whole world is in  lockdown mode, with the Covid-19 virus possibly in every literal breath that we take. In big Indian metro cities, with their overcrowding, the infected numbers are increasing every day. The government has, quite naturally, made Covid-19 testing and treatment a priority, in most hospitals, government and private, to prevent cross infection of normal patients and to avoid overloading the already stretched infrastructure.

The operative word here is “most” not "all", and Amrit Hospitals is one such exception. Here, they help with “all other” medical issues/emergencies.

Amrit Medicare Pvt. Ltd. is a multispeciality hospital in Purasawalkam and Sowcarpet offering the best medical and surgical care with consulting specialists for every possibility. In the current situation they are offering their services for all non-Covid-19 medical emergencies with the utmost care to safety to all its patients and employees.

The medical services they offer include:

  • Ophthalmology
  • General Medicine and Geriatrics (old age related diseases).
  • General Surgery.
  • ENT services.
  • Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
  • Diabetology (treatment of diabetes, its follow up and related services).
  • Chest medicine and associated services.
  • Urology (issues related to the urinary tract).
  • Dermatology (skin related).
  • Orthopaedics.
  • Physiotherapy.

They also offer: Well organised and designed waiting and consulting rooms; well equipped 24-hour laboratory facilities; X-ray and ultrasound imaging services; Intensive Care Unit with cutting edge monitoring equipment, well supplied pharmacy and facilities to take care of insurance mediclaims.

Amrit Hospitals, in the current pandemic situation, assures to offer the absolute best possible services with total care and utmost safety to all those who come for their services.

They can be contacted at:

AMRIT HOSPITALS,

Amrit Medical Centre,

73/28, Dr Alagappa Road,

Purasawalkam,

Chennai,

Tamil Nadu ,

India

Pin: - 600084

Phone:  044-26427711 / 044-26427722

Blog Reviewed By: Dr. Lalit Kumar
Mail Us: amrithospitalchennai@gmail.com 

Wednesday 24 June 2020

Occlusion therapy and Revitalvision therapy for Amblyopia

Amblyopia is a medical condition where the vision in one eye is reduced, early in life. It is also called Lazy Eye as the eye seems to move without control. Here the brain fails to process input from one eye favouring another, resulting in the decreased vision in the unfavoured eye.


Any  condition that affects the focussing of the eye can lead to Amblyopia, like irregularly shaped or inaccurate alignment of eyes; nearsightedness or farsightedness. It is recommended that all children between the ages of four and five have their vision tested. This rarely affects both eyes. 

The two common methods of treatment are:

Occlusion Therapy for children and young adults: 
When correcting refractive errors using spectacles/contact lenses fails, Occlusion Therapy is introduced. The vision to the healthy eye, yes, the healthy eye, is occluded or blocked by means of an external eye patch, forcing the brain to rely on the weaker eye.

However, Over Patching or Over Occlusion of the good eye can lead to Reverse Amblyopia, which is bad. This is why it is done only 4-6 hours a day. While the treatment can continue as long as the vision improves, it is not advised, if after 6 months there is no improvement, and other methods need to be sought.

Revitalvision Therapy for ages above 6 years.. 
This is a noninvasive method based on visual stimulation of perceptual learning and is specific to each individual. Through a computerised training programme based on what are called Gabor Patches, the eye’s sensitivity to contrast and clarity of vision, especially form vision, is improved by facilitating neural connections in the brain.


Visual Perception, or the ability of the brain to interpret what the eye sees, depends on the input from eyes and the working of the visual cortex. Revitalvision improves vision quality by enhancing this. Perceptual learning means practising certain visual tasks leading to visual performance improvements. Repetitive tasks initiate neural modifications leading to neural efficiency, thereby leading to improved vision.


Blog Reviewed By: Dr. Lalit Kumar
Mail Us: amrithospitalchennai@gmail.com 

Tuesday 19 May 2020

Eye care tips for lockdown

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the whole world to go into a lockdown. All of us, the old, the not-so-old and the young, are all spending more time indoors. And, we are all experiencing the effect that it has on our health, both mental and physical. 


As we stay indoors and spend more and more time looking at one type or another of glowing screens, trying to get work done from home or to be entertained, the human eye; that most overlooked of organs is taking up a lot of strain, and this manifests as; dry or watery eyes, shoulder and neck pain, blurring of vision and severe headaches. 


Following are some tips to take care of our eyes:
  1. The 20-20-20 rule: this rule says that after every 20 minutes of viewing, take a 20 second break and look at an object about 20 feet away. This repositions and refocuses the eye, reducing strain.
  2. Reduce screen time: unless absolutely necessary, reduce screen time on all your devices. 
  3. Take a break: get up, exercise, walk around the house, loosen your body and give your eyes something else to look at.
  4. Make an actual phone call: YES! Rather than texting or video calling, make an actual voice call. You will be surprised at how effective that direct human contact can be, both psychologically and otherwise, and give your eyes a break at the same time.
  5. Screen-free meal time: do not eat any of your meals in front of any type or size of screen. Make it family time. This is an idea that you could continue after lockdown lifts.
  6. Read a chapter from a book: yes, just a chapter, not the whole book, preferably in a well lit area. This is counterintuitive, but it works.

Then there are the traditional tips: washing face with cold water; applying cucumber slices or aloe vera to relieve eye tension; drinking lots of water and eating healthy food.


Blog Reviewed By: Dr. Lalit Kumar
Mail Us: amrithospitalchennai@gmail.com 

Tuesday 18 February 2020

Multifocal Intraocular Lenses for Cataract Surgery

During lens surgery, natural lens are replaced by prosthetic lenses, which is Intraocular lenses (IOL), such as surgeries are performed to remove cataracts. In cataract surgery, the natural lens is removed to place a different clear lens in the position of the natural lens. Cataract patients were offered a lens called monofocal implantable lens that was not designed to make improvement in both near and distance vision, either near vision or distance vision in the past. Many patients used to chose the distance vision. Bifocals and reading glasses was the convenient requirement for near focusing and intermediate back then. Nowadays, multifocal intraocular lenses are replacing monofocal intraocular lenses because this surgery allows correction at all distances and making vision possible like natural vision. These lenses are often referred to as presbyopia-correcting IOLs.


The various types currently available are usually divided into two groups, accommodating IOLs and multifocal IOLs.

Accommodating IOLs
These IOLs are structured to work with the ciliary body, is a small muscle inside the eye. The ciliary body is a part of our normal near point focusing mechanism that we use throughout our lives. When we look anything closer or we attempt to focus on close range, these muscle contracts each time we see. Whenever, the muscles contracts, it allows our natural lens to change shape and increase power to bring near items into focus.

Multifocal IOLs
These lenses are designed in such a way to allow for intermediate, distance, and near focusing and it does not depend on the ciliary body muscle. The focusing power provided by these lenses is different than normal focusing that most people had during their younger adult life. Most of these lenses have some type of concentric rings etched into the surface that allows images at all distances to be focused on the retina. Because of this, it takes a little longer for people to adapt to them. Therefore, the brain must adapt to this new way of focusing. However, they work surprisingly well.


Organizations such as Amrit Hospital have the best doctor’s like Dr. Lalit Kumar, MBBS, MS (OPH) can provide resources and support to help you fully cure your vision problem.


Blog reviewed by: Dr. Lalit Kumar
Mail Us: amrithospitalchennai@gmail.com