channelnewsasia.com - Laser technology may soon be used for corneal transplants
   
 
  blogs  
 
yournews
   
   
 
Video Finance Lifestyle Travel Weather Discussion TV Shows
CNA Live    | About Us 
 
  Home ›
 
Singapore News
Smaller Text Size Larger Text Size

 
 

Laser technology may soon be used for corneal transplants
By Gladys Ow, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 04 October 2009 1903 hrs

 
 
Photos  of

   
 

SINGAPORE: In what could be a medical breakthrough in Singapore, corneal transplants may soon be carried out using laser technology instead of by hand.

You've probably heard of Lasik surgery to correct short-sightedness. That same technology could be used to perform corneal transplants.

Clinical trials are underway and the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) hopes to offer it to patients within a year.

Professor Donald Tan, director of Singapore National Eye Centre, said: "Being able to use the laser to do most of the surgery means far greater precision, accuracy and that will immediately translate into much better vision, much better results and also of course, the surgery will be much easier."

SNEC is collaborating with a team in Italy and it hopes that some 80% to 90% of corneal transplants can eventually be performed with laser.

As with any new procedure, the centre says costs will be high initially.

But patients can expect savings in the long-term, because better results mean lesser chance of repeat surgery.

The number of people needing a corneal transplant due to disease and degeneration is likely to increase as Singapore's population ages.

Apart from preventing blindness through corneal transplant, doctors also want to get people off glasses, including those with presbyopia - a condition affecting older people who have problems reading fine print.

The treatment involves inserting a tiny implant which sharpens vision through a pinhole effect. Patients will not be able to feel the implant in their eye nor will it block their vision, because it is only 3.8mm wide and just one-twentieth the thickness of human hair.

It is inserted in the outer layer of only one eye, so the other eye will still be able to see objects far away. The process takes less than 20 minutes, using existing Lasik technologies.

Singapore is the first to perform this procedure and Japan is the only other country to offer it.

Good news as well for those who want to correct various refractive problems.

Professor Donald Tan said: "The latest innovation which we just started to do now is to offer what we call three-in-one surgery. If you have myopia, astigmatism and presbyopia, we can cure all three in one procedure."

The eye centre has performed about 70 presbyopia implants since it was made commercially available in June.

- CNA/ir

 

 
Bookmark and Share



Other singapore News
Ming Yi sentenced to 10 months jail; his aide Raymond Yeung gets 9 months jail
3 lessons for S'poreans to learn from the way downturn was handled, says Shanmugam
Singapore's broadcasting legend Vernon Palmer dies of pneumonia
Mountain Home Air Force Base is home to 250 RSAF aircrew and their families
SM Goh urges board members of charities to provide better leadership
Aviation Run raises S$218,000 for Community Chest
Number of serious burn victims up in last three years from 14 to 19
Citibank-YMCA fundraising programme raises highest amount since start in 2002
Lyo and Merly to be mascots for inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games
Panel on Clean Energy identifies key areas of focus for S'pore
Foreign Minister Yeo addresses 3,000 Chinese entrepreneurs in Manila

 

 
Affiliate Sites:
 
About Us  |  Contact Us  |  Advertise with Us  |  Terms & Conditions