A Clearer Perspective on Cataract Surgery
Cataract Patient and Artist - Chevis Clark
Cataract patient and artist, Chevis Clark, resides near Charleston, South Carolina, USA. At the age of 81, Mr. Clark had cataract surgery performed on both eyes and now enjoys a world of color and clarity he thought was lost.
I was noticing that my pigments – that they were getting darker and darker and that the manufacturer wasn't putting as much pigment in it. And so, I talked to my wife about and I said, "You know they charge a little more, but the pigments don't seem to be as strong as they were before." And then I kept painting and getting these dark colors in it.
Finally I said, "Something's wrong."My daughter had been to a doctor – the eye clinic over there. So, we went over there and we found out I had cataracts in both eyes. That's the reason I couldn't see as well.
And so, I set up the appointment to go and have the cataracts removed. It just seemed so quickly – in one day after my first cataract was removed. I looked out the window and I saw a crepe myrtle and I told my wife, I said, "Carol, look at the color on that crepe myrtle." And that color had been there all along and I just wasn't seeing it.
I've had these painting that I've just set aside that I was just getting too dark with – and now this is one of them that I've come back to, to finish painting and put in the right value of colors – and I just feel like that I've been blessed after getting my eyes – well, getting my eyes healed.
And so, when I go outside now we go walking, we go anywhere and I'm just constantly pointing out the lights on the trees, the lights on the leaves, the lights on the water and everything – it's just been a miracle.
The artist sees, I forget how many colors, the values of the colors – the average person I think maybe sees eleven values, but the artist maybe sees a hundred different values. And as the cataracts grow, the values – you feel it's the pigment and you look outside and you don't see the brightness that you used to see.
I didn't get the colors I wanted. The colors would be subdued and I didn't have the freshness. I would keep thinking something was wrong, at that time, with the pigments. Because the pigments are very expensive and I was thinking – well are they charging more, but the pigments are weak. I didn't know that I was the problem all along. Now, I feel like I can just come in here and get any value I want and so, I really look forward to painting every morning by coming in here.
Cataract Surgeon - Kerry Solomon, M.D.
Dr. Kerry Solomon is professor of ophthalmology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and a world-renowned surgeon specializing in cataract and refractive surgery and corneal transplantation at the Storm Eye Institute. He has been performing cataract surgery for more than 15 years.
When patients are first told they have a cataract and may need cataract surgery, patients are often under a misconception. Many patients believe they may be admitted to a hospital, they may need friends and family available to help with their after care and it may take them days to weeks to return to their daily activities.
With today's modern cataract surgery and all the advances that have come along, nothing could be further from the truth. In today's surgery, it's out-patient, you come in, you have your surgery then you go home right away. We use numbing drops, no needles, no stitches, no patches, use the eye right away and return to your activities right away. The reason we can afford this to today's patients is due to all of the advances with technology and the techniques of today's modern cataract surgery.
Lens technology, the implant that we put in the eye after surgery, serves two purposes. It allows us to see very clearly after the surgery and it often replaces the need for people's glasses. So, when people have a cataract removed, not only are they able to see more clearly – they're able to see more clearly without their glasses or, in some cases, contact lenses.
I could never have imagined before all of the things with modern eye surgery and specifically cataract surgery. It is very rewarding for me to see the faces of my patients immediately after surgery. To know that people that have been able to come in where they weren't able to do their daily activities – their lifestyles have been impaired, and virtually overnight we can not only restore their vision to where they see more clearly, but to see the youthful looks on people's faces when they can return to their daily activities in a way that they never could before often without glasses or contact lenses.
Alcon VP Surgical Devices Research - Mutlu Karakelle, Ph.D.
Researcher, scientist, engineer - Dr. Mutlu Karakelle performs all of these functions at Alcon. For 22 years Dr. Karakelle has focused his attention medical implant devices – the last 14 years solely on cataract solutions.
Cataract surgery is probably one of the most common surgeries today. Globally probably more than ten million procedures are conducted and success rate is well over ninety-five percent. So in ninety-five percent of these – higher than ninety-five percent of these cases patient vision significantly improves. This has become, really, a very routine surgical procedure. In most countries, this is just a day surgery – patients spend just a few hours, although they receive a long-term implant.
These are class three devices, which is one of the most stringent implants, but because of all these innovations in lens removal technologies, interocular lens technologies, lens delivery technologies as well as surgical technique, cataract surgery has become a routine surgery with incredible success rate.
This is really a very innovate, creative field. There is a continuous stream of innovation and it's very demanding. It requires multiple multi-disciplinary science and engineering skills. We have to rely on each other and work as a team to solve these problems and our customers, cataract surgeons, are extremely innovative. We've discovered that they demand the best; they expect the best, so this is really an excellent combination for us, because it gives us opportunities to innovate and create new products. It's a very, very rewarding field and speaking of that – restoring sight or treating cataract is very rewarding. It's just a kind of privilege for us to work in this field and we make a living in this profession at the same time. We see that people are enormously benefiting from things we bring to marketplace.
We are dedicated to preserving and enhancing vision - sight. This is what we do. We are an eye care company, vision care company and that's all we do. We have a tremendous dedication to this field and we interact with surgeons every day almost. We have senior ophthalmologists visiting, ophthalmologist in training visiting, our medical monitor visiting; we attend conferences and get their feedback. We keep our fingers at the pulse of those needs as much as possible – so, these are opportunities. We have a very innovative and creative culture and this is kind of expected of us to help bring new products and keep Alcon at the forefront of the treatment of cataract. This is not something we are forced to do, we like to do, we enjoy doing as long as it's needed.
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