In the seven years since I started cataract surgery in 2006, I have performed cataract surgery on hundreds of dogs and cats. It has been seven years since the world's top animal-specific phacoemulsification instrument used the first domestic phacoemulsification instrument, and there was no crystal to install, and then the crystal was unfolded, and now the best folding crystal for preventing after-cataract has passed. Looking through every medical record in the past seven years, I see that I have learned a little from ignorance, and now I can handle all kinds of complicated situations during and after cataract surgery very skillfully. In this process, many teachers have helped me, including newly graduated ophthalmologists, cataract experts in Tongren Hospital, ophthalmologists in anzhen hospital, and top veterinary ophthalmologists in the United States. Many domestic pet doctors have given me the opportunity to learn by referring cases. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart. Without your selflessness and help, I can't have so many valuable experiences to share with you.
In recent years, with the rapid increase in the number of domestic pets, especially the increase in the number of purebred animals, more and more genetic diseases appear in the clinic of pets, whether it is hip joint disease of large dogs or hereditary eye diseases of many varieties, these problems are increasingly endangering the health of pets. Because I only do the clinical work of pet ophthalmology at present, the content of this paper is mainly pet ophthalmology, and you can find many professional consultations on other specialized diseases from the Internet.
Today, I mainly want to talk about the difference between pet cataract surgery and human cataract surgery, because many animal owners don't understand it deeply. As we all know, human cataract surgery is very mature, and almost all hospitals from big cities to small counties use phacoemulsification. From this point of view alone, there is not much difference between humans and animals, but the following reasons determine that animal cataract surgery is much more complicated than human beings:
? 1, cataract maturity?
At present, the condition for human beings to choose suitable cases for surgery before surgery is that their vision is below 0.4. This stage does not affect any normal life of animals, so animal owners will not operate on animals at this stage, and even many animal owners cannot observe that animals have cataracts. So when animals' eyesight is affected by cataracts, the lens becomes very hard. At this stage, phacoemulsification requires more ultrasonic energy and longer operation time, so the greater the damage to the eyes, the higher the probability of postoperative complications. On the contrary, more than 90% of human cases undergoing cataract surgery are not suitable for our pet ophthalmologists.
2. Sclerosis is not equal to cataract?
As I said just now, in order to ensure accurate vision, human beings have undergone cataract surgery in the sclerosing stage of lens nucleus. At this stage, the hardness of the lens is not very great, so phacoemulsification is very easy. But for more than 90% of cataract cases, it has developed into mature cataract or over-mature stage, and the lens becomes very hard at this stage, so the time of phacoemulsification will be greatly prolonged. Most cataracts in humans can be completed in about 3 minutes, but it takes pets at least 20 minutes to complete.
3. Human cataract surgery does not require general anesthesia?
Because humans can understand the doctor's instructions and have good control, they can cooperate with the doctor to complete the operation during the operation, but animals can't, so any animal's cataract operation needs to be completed under general anesthesia.
4. What is the difference between the position of eyeball and the position of animal eyeball during operation? ?
When people perform phacoemulsification, the eyeball can rotate, so doctors don't have to think too much about the position of the eyeball during the whole operation, and animals can't rotate freely after anesthesia, which increases the difficulty of the operation. Moreover, there are great differences among animals, some have small eyeballs and some have deep eyeballs, which invisibly increases the difficulty of the operation.
5. Are the crystals of animals bigger than those of humans?
Obviously, the larger the crystal, the longer the operation time. Therefore, all the animal crystals we installed are special for animals, and there is no substitute in China, which increases the cost of animal cataract surgery.
6. The complications of animal cataract surgery are far more than those of human beings?
The types of complications after cataract surgery in humans are the same as those in animals, including retinal detachment, glaucoma, uveitis and corneal ulcer. However, the probability of occurrence is much less than that of animals, so it is particularly important for pet ophthalmologists to observe after cataract surgery.
7. Do you need to be hospitalized after animal cataract surgery?
Most human cataract operations have become outpatient operations, that is to say, most patients can go home after surgery, but they just come to the hospital for reexamination every day after surgery. Animals need to pass various postoperative eye indexes in the hospital and be kept in cages for rest and recovery. After cataract surgery, animals usually need to be hospitalized for a week before they can be discharged. From this point of view, it also increases the cost of pet cataract surgery.
8. Is the cost of pet ophthalmic equipment more expensive than that of human ophthalmic equipment?
Because of the production cost, all animals' instruments and equipment are more expensive than human's, which is also obvious, because the equipment produced in batches is definitely cheaper than the equipment produced in limited quantities.
Summarize eight points, and you may know the difference between pet cataract surgery and human cataract surgery. But more importantly, pet ophthalmology is a very, very professional discipline. All pet ophthalmologists who can skillfully perform cataract surgery should not only perform cataract surgery, but more importantly, they should handle all kinds of complicated and changeable situations at any time in order to finally complete the whole operation beautifully. This requires years of basic knowledge of ophthalmology and years of clinical practice experience to complete.
Over the years, I have been training doctors in this field. At present, the eye center of Barbie Hall has trained and is training a group of such pet ophthalmologists. I believe that in the near future, more and more pet ophthalmologists will be competent for such complicated intraocular surgery!
? Author: Dong Yi, Doctor of Veterinary Ophthalmology, China Agricultural University, Deputy Secretary-General of China Veterinary Association Pet Clinic Branch. Vice Chairman of Beijing Small Animal Diagnosis and Treatment Industry Association.