Boot Camp for Eyes

October 16th, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized

This week was an eye camp and a Doctor from Karola came to preform the surgeries.  The opthamologist who has been here for 30+ years, Dr. Helen, has severe problems with her neck so she is not longer able to perform much surgery.  Instead she arranges for eye camps like this with visiting colleagues. 

Each day this week, the visiting Doctor, with some very well trained assistants, have performed 50+ cataract surgeries.  The doctor just slides back and forth between the two operating beds where he finds the patient already prepped by the surgical assistants who also take care of the bandaging and other post-op care.  The surgeon takes about 10 minutes per cataract.  I was quite interesting to watch and not as disturbing as I thought making multiple incisions in the eye would be.  The removal of the cataract itself is very satisfying, much like popping a pimple.  The area around the eye clinic is filled with patients with bandages over one of their eyes and their relatives.

  1. One Response to “Boot Camp for Eyes”

  2. By Kristin on Oct 20, 2008

    I’ve seen many cataract surgeries performed; here the cataracts are “vacuumed” out.

    A doc I called on in Pinehurst (retirement and golf capital of NC) used to do about 50 surgeries every afternoon. He was the second highest volume cataract surgeon in the country, behind a doctor in Florida. The practice bused people in from old folks’ homes and did hundreds of optometry referrals…quite a mill. The nurses would call out his time after every surgery (i.e., 4 minutes, 32 seconds.) Quite an operation.

    Are you describing watching them slide out an intact, whole, firm, visibly clouded lens - which I call a “ripe” cataract - through an incision? I’ve never seen that. I imagine it would look like popping a pimple. Gross. But what an improvement for the patients.

    Cataract surgery is the #1 line item on Medicare; nobody here ever gets a chance to have a “ripe” cataract because in the USA the docs make sure those cataracts come out before they ever get to that point - although the M.D.’s complain about the crappy reimbursements, it is still a very lucrative surgery to do and so simple and quick. And the patients love you, because they can see again!

    Anyway, I still am very interested in eye stuff and psych stuff - from my former life calling on doctors. Love reading your posts.

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