An Intraocular lens (IOL) is a lens implanted in the eye usually as part of a treatment for cataracts or for correcting other vision problems such as short sightedness and long sightedness, a form of refractive surgery. If the natural lens is left in the eye, the IOL is known as phakic, otherwise it is a pseudophakic lens. Both kinds of IOLs are designed to provide the same light-focusing function as the natural crystalline lens. This can be an alternative to LASIK, but LASIK is not an alternative to an IOL for treatment of cataracts.
Cataract surgery, which is also called lens replacement surgery, is the removal of the natural lens of the human eye that has developed a cataract, an opaque or cloudy area. The eye's natural lens is usually replaced with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL).
Sankara Nethralaya is a not-for-profit missionary institution for ophthalmic care headquartered in Chennai, India. In the name "Sankara Nethralaya", "Sankara" is a reference to Lord Shiva and "Nethralaya" means "The Temple of the Eye". Sankara Nethralaya receives patients from India and abroad. Sankara Nethralaya has over 1000 employees and serves around 1500 patients per day, performing over 100 surgeries per day. The annual revenue as per the taxes is close to US$100 million.
Murigeppa Channaveerappa Modi often referred by his initials, M. C. Modi was an Indian ophthalmologist and eye surgeon.
Govindappa Venkataswamy, popularly known as Dr V., was an Indian ophthalmologist who dedicated his life to eliminate needless blindness. He was the founder and former chairman of Aravind Eye Hospitals. He is best known for developing a high quality, high volume, low-cost service delivery model that has restored sight to millions of people. Since inception, Aravind Eye Care System has seen over 55 million patients, and performed over 6.8 million surgeries. Over 50% of the organisation's patients pay either nothing or highly subsidised rates. Its scale and self-sustainability prompted a 1993 Harvard Business Case Study on the Aravind model.
Suseela Prabhakaran is an Indian ophthalmologist and chief ophthalmic surgeon at Divya Prabha Eye Hospital in Trivandrum, India. She started her career as a lecturer in ophthalmology in the Department of Medical Education at the state government of Kerala.
Lifeline Express is a charitable organization that attempts to reduce blindness in China. Since 1997, the organization has operated rainbow-coloured hospital "Eye-Trains," which provide free cataract surgery to patients in rural parts of China. In addition, Lifeline Express promotes ophthalmological training for Chinese doctors, through constructing training centers and inviting foreign doctors to China as consultants, and builds solar hot water systems in remote parts of China.
Sankurathri Foundation (SF) was established in 1989 by Dr. Chandra Sekhar Sankurathri in memory of his wife Manjari, son Kiran and daughter Sarada, who died in the bombing of Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland on 23 June 1985.
David Green is an American social entrepreneur. His work has focused on making technology and health care services more accessible and sustainable.
Perumalsamy Namperumalsamy is an Indian ophthalmologist who specializes in diabetic retinopathy. He is also a retina-vitreous expert. Namperumalsamy is currently the chairman Emeritus of Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai. He is known for bringing assembly-line efficiency to eye surgery. In 2010, TIME magazine named Namperumalsamy one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Sanduk Ruit is an ophthalmologist from Nepal who has restored the sight of over 180,000 people across Africa and Asia using small-incision cataract surgery.
Prevention of Blindness Trust, also known as the POB Trust and POB, is a project of Pakistan Islamic Medical Association. POB Trust was established and registered by Trust Act in July 2007 as a leading volunteer eye care organization with the sole mission of preventing blindness and preserving sight. POB Trust was declared exempted from tax in 2012 by Federal Board of Revenue (Pakistan) POB Trust endeavors to develop strategies for prevention and control of blindness and visual impairment. The prime objective of POB Trust is to promote and sustain a global campaign against all forms of avoidable blindness with emphasis on deprived communities. This initiative brings with it a great challenge and an exciting hope for all who work towards this goal. It is also a member of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness for the VISION 2020: The Right to Sight.
The Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP) was created in 1994 by Dr. Geoffrey Tabin and Dr. Sanduk Ruit with a goal of establishing a sustainable eye care infrastructure in the Himalaya. HCP empowers local doctors to provide ophthalmic care through skills-transfer and education. From its beginning, HCP responds to a pressing need for eye care in the Himalayan region. With programs in Nepal, Ethiopia, Ghana, Bhutan and India they have been able to restored sight to over one million people since year since 1994.
Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya is an Indian blind social worker and the secretary of Poona Blind Mens' Association, a non governmental organization working for the cause of visually impaired people of Pune and neighbouring areas. He was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Victor Clough Rambo was an American medical missionary and ophthalmologist who worked in India from 1924 to 1974 for the United Christian Missionary Society, of which the former Foreign Christian Missionary Society became part in 1920. In India, Rambo served as the medical director of the Christian Hospital Mungeli and initiated the development of eye camps, groups of medical surgeons that visited towns, set up cataract removal stations, and restored sight to the partially blind through eye surgeries. Under Rambo's leadership, the hospital conducted over 150 eye camps in over 25 villages. It is estimated that the implementation of these eye camps helped restore sight to over 40,000 patients.
Gullapalli Nageswara Rao is an Indian ophthalmologist, the chairman of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis (AOI) and the founder of the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad. A former associate professor at the School of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Rochester, Rao is a Fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, India. He was honored by the Government of India, in 2002, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri. He was elected in 2017 to the Ophthalmology Hall of Fame instituted by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.
Sankara Eye Hospital is a not for profit charitable trust which aims at providing affordable eye care and eliminating curable eye blindness in India. Having its headquarters in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, Sankara is among the largest community eye care providers in India with ten super specialty eye care hospitals across the country performing over 150,000 free eye surgeries annually.
Government support and local innovation has produced rapid improvements in eye care in India. A survey in 1976 found that 1.3% of the population were blind, and this was mostly due to cataract. This motivated government action. The National Program for Control of Blindness was launched, though funding did not match that of higher priority problems such as malaria, tuberculosis, and maternal and child health. By 1986 prevalence had risen to 1.49% and the government decided to allow free imports of ophthalmic equipment and then applied to the World Bank for a loan to support the development of cataract surgery. Evidence of the economic impact of blindness helped to secure funding of $117 million for the seven-year project which was launched in 1995.
Frederik Carl Kugelberg M.D. was a Swedish physician and Christian missionary to the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu who developed much of south India's lasting healthcare infrastructure.
Bharti Kashyap is an Indian ophthalmologist and social worker. She was honoured with Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2017 and is a five-time recipient of the National IMA for the welfare of the underprivileged section of social sciences.
