Surgeons are performing cataract operations through holes in the cornea no bigger than a full stop.
The advance has been made possible by a machine that allows the plastic replacement lens to be rolled up and pushed through the incision.
Once in place, it unfurls like an umbrella to restore vision.
The technique is the fastest yet developed for removing a cataract, a clouding of the eye's natural lens because of ageing or disease.
Using the U.S.-made, £70,000 Stellaris machine, ophthalmic surgeons make just two tiny incisions either side of the clear part of the eye rather than the previous three cuts. |