Excimer laser myopia correction surgery is quite demanding on the eyes, and about 40% of people should not undergo the surgery. However, some individual hospitals are relaxing the threshold for the surgery in order to pursue economic benefits. Yesterday, a number of the city's top ophthalmologists pointed out that if the strict screening of surgical objects, do a good job of post-operative follow-up, excimer laser corrective surgery is basically safe. According to statistics, about 30,000 people had excimer laser myopia surgery in Shanghai last year.
Technology, surgical objects have requirements
Nineteen years ago, the director of the key laboratory of myopia in the Ministry of Health, the director of the Shanghai Ophthalmology Quality Control Center, Fudan (microblogging) University Otorhinolaryngology Hospital, Professor Chu Renyuan, was the first expert on the mainland to carry out excimer laser myopia correction surgery.
Yesterday afternoon, Chu Renyuan said, Professor Cai Ruifang said the problem of vision loss should be referred to the quality of vision, and the root cause of this problem, and the surgical equipment, technology, and reasonable screening of surgical objects have a very important relationship. "The principle of all excimer laser surgeries is the same, all of them create curves on the human cornea, only that the surgical methods are being improved and the equipment is being updated, and all the ones in use now are already fifth-generation equipment, with guaranteed accuracy and safety."
Ruijin Hospital has now had more than 70,000 people undergo excimer laser myopia correction surgery, said Lian Jingcai, a professor of Ruijin Hospital's Ruixi Ophthalmology Department, "We conduct long-term tracking on the surgery subjects, and only a small percentage of them have experienced regression of vision, and those who have developed serious corneal diseases are in the very small minority."
However, Lian Jingcai emphasized that excimer laser myopia correction surgery is an optional procedure, and the threshold is actually quite high. Only six out of every 10 people who want the procedure in an outpatient clinic are eligible.
For example, those who have developed severe keratitis after wearing contact lenses, those with relatively thin corneas, those with myopia higher than 1,200 degrees, minors under the age of 18, those with unstable myopia, and even those with systemic immune disorders are not eligible for the surgery. Individuals may experience symptoms related to their own physical condition, the shape of the eye, and improper postoperative care. As long as you do a good job of preoperative examination and exclude contraindications to surgery, there are generally no abnormalities after surgery.
At present, 23 medical institutions in Shanghai carry out such surgeries. The Shanghai Ophthalmology Quality Control Center follows up and monitors the equipment used in such surgeries every year, and also analyzes the equipment every year to ensure its accuracy and safety. Meanwhile, for the inspection of surgical blades, from 2010, when individual hospitals were found to be using one blade for two or three surgical subjects, to 2011, when all Shanghai medical institutions strictly enforced the rule that one blade can only be used for one surgical subject. Last year, about 30,000 people in Shanghai underwent excimer laser myopia correction surgery.
[Case study]
People: Ms. Ni
Post-surgery: vision has stayed above 1.2 for 8 years
"I think the laser surgery worked well, and allowed me to finally get rid of the trouble of wearing glasses." Ms. Ni, 38 years old, still feels a lot when she talks about the laser eye surgery she underwent 8 years ago. 8 years ago, her left and right eye myopia were 500 degrees and 550 degrees respectively, and wearing glasses for a long period of time made her feel very inconvenient. For this reason, Ms. Ni underwent laser surgery after consulting with several ophthalmologists. Ms. Ni said her surgery was a success, and over the past eight years, her vision has remained above 1.2 with no signs of deterioration. However, another woman who had the surgery in the same batch as her was not as lucky, when the woman was a bit uncomfortable and felt sick after the operation.
People: Mr. Yu
Post-operation: one eye deepened to 150 degrees
Mr. Yu, 31, underwent laser eye surgery in 2003. After the operation, the visual acuity in both eyes was 1.5, with no degree at all. However, in the last few years, the degree in one of the eyes has reached 150 degrees. "Before the surgery, the doctor told me that there was a possibility that the eye with the deeper degree might experience a return of the degree." However, Mr. Yu is now beginning to worry, "Will the degree of this eye continue to deepen in the future? What will happen when it deepens?"
[Expert Q&A]
What should people pay attention to when undergoing excimer laser myopia correction surgery? Yesterday, the Tenth People's Hospital Excimer Laser Deputy Director Yu Jing answered the following questions.