Joseph Colin, MD

For many years, the only possible options for keratoconus patients were spectacles in mild cases, contact lenses as soon as the vision was unsatisfactory with glasses, and penetrating keratoplasty for contact lens-intolerant patients or those with low vision despite contact lens tolerance.

Causes of blindness are dominated worldwide by degenerative eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataract. Together with genetic susceptibility, lifestyle appears ever more as an important determinant of these diseases. Numerous epidemiological studies conducted in the last 20 years have shown that smokers are at high risk for cataract and AMD and that this risk is dose-dependent and decreases after smoking cessation. Exposure to ultraviolet light is also a well-identified risk factor for cataract.

The era of modern cataract surgery began in 1967, with the “phaco revolution” of Charles D. Kelman, MD. The radical changes brought by the use of ultrasound energy were slowly accepted and gradually adopted by the ophthalmic community. With the introduction of flexible implants, phacoemulsification eventually established its position as the state-of-the-art in cataract removal.

Mientras la cirugía refractiva se hace más popular, las expectativas de los pacientes aumentan continuamente. En el pasado, la cirugía ocular era ansiogénica; sin embargo, la tecnología moderna, especialmente anestesia tópica para cirugía de catarata, ha mejorado dramáticamente la confianza de los pacientes.