At Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital on Wednesday, C. Vanitha was a happy woman. Her left eye, which had been filled with blood in June and through which she could not see, is now completely healed. “I was nervous when I was told that I was undergoing a new procedure,” said the 40-year-old, “but now my vision is completely restored.”
The procedure Ms. Vanitha underwent was hypersonic vitrectomy using a new device, Bausch & Lomb’s Hypersonic Vitrectomy System, New Stellaris Elite Vision Enhancement System, chairman of the hospital Amar Agarwal told mediapersons. “Bleeding in the eye can be caused due to uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension or even because of an injury. Up until now, removing blood clots from the eye and fixing the retina involved using a cutter — a device that could perform 5,000 cuts per minute. This creates traction, and pulls on the retina. The new ultrasound device however, liquefies the blood and sucks it out. This increases the cutting rate to approximately 1.7 million cuts per minute, decreasing the traction, making the procedure much safer, with no damage to neighbouring structures in the eye, and the results much better,” he said.
The device has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USA, he said. “The device can also seal holes in the retina,” he said.
Sanjay Bhutani, managing director, Bausch & Lomb India said clinical trials of the device were held at the hospital in July and 22 procedures were completed with excellent results.
Other advantages included no sutures and no hospital admission, said Dr. Agarwal, adding that the cost was the same as that of the procedure involving cutting.
