Experts commission novel technology in catarract surgery in Ibadan

In their push to address the rising loss of sight and to reduce every form of visual impairments in Nigeria, ophthalmologists at Eleta Eye Institute has insisted that it is very easy for blindness caused by cataract to be reversed within a short period of time.

The President of the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria (OSN), Ayobade Ogundipe, said in Ibadan recently, that modern cataract surgery is one of the safest and most effective surgical procedures for tackling the scourge of cataracts.

“Cataract should not be a fear factor because most people will experience it before they die. The disease could be a blinding condition but not a permanent blinder,” he said

He said as frightening as cataract infection sounds, modern cataract surgery can usually restore vision lost to the infection and most often can also reduce dependence on eyeglasses.

An ophthalmologist at the Eleta Eye Institute, Prof. Benedictus Ajayi, during the commissioning of an ultra modern cataract surgery suite and lasers said it is very emotional to see a visually impaired person, especially those who’s cases was not immediately obvious because it is very easy to reverse blindness from an uncomplicated cataract.”

Ajayi said, “reversal of blindness is getting easier with advancement of technology and we have presented to Nigerians, one of the newest technologies in cataract surgery.

“Eleta eye Institute has been running for a decade now and just introduced an SKT-Alcon Phaco which is a full function vitreoretinal system with complete posterior and anterior segments procedure capabilities.

“The equipment is a complete surgical suit, a top range Phaco-machine and operating microscope equipped with artificial intelligence.”

He said the facility has an advanced xenon illuminator, which provides state of of the art illumination for visualising tissues.

With this new facility, Ajayi said the institute hopes to cater for the visual need of every single member of the society at an affordable price and that through this development, more ophthalmologists in the country will have first hand experience on performing cataract surgeries, not just running outside the country to learn.

“At Eleta, we aim at excellence in service for one and all irrespective of social status, race or creed so we regularly conduct research for improvements in eye care to contribute to the body of knowledge of our doctors and the general public.”