Ophthalmology is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
Floaters or eye floaters are sometimes visible deposits within the eye's vitreous humour, which is normally transparent, or between the vitreous and retina. They can become particularly noticeable when looking at a blank surface or an open monochromatic space, such as blue sky. Each floater can be measured by its size, shape, consistency, refractive index, and motility. They are also called muscae volitantes, or mouches volantes. The vitreous usually starts out transparent, but imperfections may gradually develop as one ages. The common type of floater, present in most people's eyes, is due to these degenerative changes of the vitreous. The perception of floaters, which may be annoying or problematic to some people, is known as myodesopsia, or, less commonly, as myodaeopsia, myiodeopsia, or myiodesopsia. It is not often treated, except in severe cases, where vitrectomy (surgery), laser vitreolysis, and medication may be effective.
Vitrectomy is a surgery to remove some or all of the vitreous humor from the eye.
Far-sightedness, also known as long-sightedness, hypermetropia, and hyperopia, is a condition of the eye where distant objects are seen clearly but near objects appear blurred. This blur is due to incoming light being focused behind, instead of on, the retina due to insufficient accommodation by the lens. Minor hypermetropia in young patients is usually corrected by their accommodation, without any defects in vision. But, due to this accommodative effort for distant vision, people may complain of eye strain during prolonged reading. If the hypermetropia is high, there will be defective vision for both distance and near. People may also experience accommodative dysfunction, binocular dysfunction, amblyopia, and strabismus. Newborns are almost invariably hypermetropic, but it gradually decreases as the newborn gets older.
LASIK or Lasik, commonly referred to as laser eye surgery or laser vision correction, is a type of refractive surgery for the correction of myopia, hyperopia, and an actual cure for astigmatism, since it is in the cornea. LASIK surgery is performed by an ophthalmologist who uses a laser or microkeratome to reshape the eye's cornea in order to improve visual acuity. For most people, LASIK provides a long-lasting alternative to eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Macular edema occurs when fluid and protein deposits collect on or under the macula of the eye and causes it to thicken and swell (edema). The swelling may distort a person's central vision, because the macula holds tightly packed cones that provide sharp, clear, central vision to enable a person to see detail, form, and color that is directly in the centre of the field of view.
Eye surgery, also known as ophthalmic or ocular surgery, is surgery performed on the eye or its adnexa, by an ophthalmologist. Eye surgery is part of ophthalmology. The eye is a fragile organ, and requires due care before, during, and after a surgical procedure to minimize or prevent further damage. An eye surgeon is responsible for selecting the appropriate surgical procedure for the patient, and for taking the necessary safety precautions. Mentions of eye surgery can be found in several ancient texts dating back as early as 1800 BC, with cataract treatment starting in the fifth century BC. It continues to be a widely practiced class of surgery, with various techniques having been developed for treating eye problems.
Refractive surgery is optional eye surgery used to improve the refractive state of the eye and decrease or eliminate dependency on glasses or contact lenses. This can include various methods of surgical remodeling of the cornea (keratomileusis), lens implantation or lens replacement. The most common methods today use excimer lasers to reshape the curvature of the cornea. Refractive eye surgeries are used to treat common vision disorders such as myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia and astigmatism.
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).
Laser surgery is a type of surgery that uses a laser to cut tissue.
Jenoptik AG is a Jena, Germany-based integrated photonics company. The company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and is included in the TecDAX stock index.
ReLExSmall incision lenticule extraction (SMILE), second generation of ReLEx Femtosecond lenticule extraction (FLEx), is a form of laser based refractive eye surgery developed by Carl Zeiss Meditec used to correct myopia, and cure astigmatism. Although similar to LASIK laser surgery, the intrastromal procedure is novel in that it uses a single femtosecond laser referenced to the corneal surface to cleave a thin lenticule from the corneal stroma for manual extraction and SMILE. It has been described as a painless procedure. For candidates to qualify for this treatment, they have their corneal stroma thickness checked to make sure that post operative thickness won't be too thin.
A visual prosthesis, often referred to as a bionic eye, is an experimental visual device intended to restore functional vision in those with partial or total blindness. Many devices have been developed, usually modeled on the cochlear implant or bionic ear devices, a type of neural prosthesis in use since the mid-1980s. The idea of using electrical current to provide sight dates back to the 18th century, discussed by Benjamin Franklin, Tiberius Cavallo, and Charles LeRoy.
Manz AG is a German multinational engineering company active in the fields of automation, laser processesing, metrology, wet chemistry and roll-to-roll processing. Manz AG bundles its activities into two reporting segments: Mobility & Battery Solutions and Industry Solutions. The focus in the Mobility & Battery Solutions segment is on intelligent production solutions for highly efficient lithium-ion batteries. The Industry Solutions reporting segment is responsible for assembly and production solutions for electronic components and devices, power and consumer electronics, and components for the electric powertrain.
Cantel Medical Corporation is an American company which produces and sells medical equipment. The company is based in Little Falls, New Jersey. The company has three subsidiaries:
Laser blended vision is a sophisticated laser eye treatment which is used to treat presbyopia or other age-related eye conditions. It can be used to help people that simply need reading glasses, and also those who have started to need bifocal or varifocal spectacle correction due to ageing changes in the eye. It can be used for people who are also short-sighted (myopia) or long-sighted (hyperopia) and who also may have astigmatism.
Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH comprises the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology business group of ZEISS and develops and produces equipment for the manufacture of microchips. The company is majority owned by Carl Zeiss AG, with a 24.9% minority stake by ASML Holding.
Edwards Lifesciences is an American medical technology company headquartered in Irvine, California, specializing in artificial heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring. It developed the SAPIEN transcatheter aortic heart valve made of cow tissue within a balloon-expandable, cobalt-chromium frame, deployed via catheter. The company has manufacturing facilities at the Irvine headquarters, as well as in Draper, Utah; Costa Rica; the Dominican Republic; Puerto Rico; and Singapore; and is building a new facility due to be completed in 2021 in Limerick, Ireland.
Micro-invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) is the latest advance in surgical treatment for glaucoma, which aims to reduce intraocular pressure by either increasing outflow of aqueous humor or reducing its production. MIGS comprises a group of surgical procedures which share common features. MIGS procedures involve a minimally invasive approach, often with small cuts or micro-incisions through the cornea that causes the least amount of trauma to surrounding scleral and conjunctival tissues. The techniques minimize tissue scarring, allowing for the possibility of traditional glaucoma procedures such as trabeculectomy or glaucoma valve implantation to be performed in the future if needed.
