Useful information if you are concerned about the overall health of your eyes

In Great Britain, there are college and university courses which can supply ophthalmology degrees. These institutions include the Royal College of Edinburgh, The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the Royal College of Glasgow. In order to become a qualified ophthalmologist within the UK you will need to hold one of these qualifications. When the postgraduate has passed their course, the majority of the students often gain placements at the NHS in order to further their practical skills and gain essential knowledge. In fact, many of the major laser eye specialists run programs to help people become qualified ophthalmologists. However, most of the time these are vocational courses taken after a postgraduate qualification.

There are many clinics within a range of locations. In the main treatment clinics are located in large metropolitan areas such as Sheffield, Glasgow and Leeds. It makes sense to look at laser eye surgery in London for any treatment centres close by for eye surgery. Most surgeries are well-established, which means that they will have long waiting lists. A positive aspect of this is that the treatment clinic staff have a huge amount of experience. In some cases, they can even be affiliated with licensed opticians hence it may be a good idea to ask your personal optician for their views before looking for an eye surgeon.

Macular degeneration is an age-related eye condition which results in a loss of vision in the macula/centre of the visual field caused by retina damage. As the disease progresses you'll find that vision can become impaired, particularly when trying to read or recognise faces. Macular degeneration can take two forms; dry (nonexudative) or wet (exudative). The former is caused by an accumulation of cellular debris behind the retina, whilst the latter is more severe and is caused by abnormal blood vessel growth behind the retina which leads to leakage below the macula. As the progression of macular degeneration can be slowed by taking vitamin supplements with high doses of antioxidants eye surgery is never the first option for someone who suffers from macular degeneration.

Patients require a cornea transplant or graft when their cornea becomes permanently possibly through disease or external damage. For instance, if a person develops Fuchs dystrophy (a slow progressing corneal disease that affects both eyes) or Keratoconus (a disorder which changes the shape of the cornea and causes substantial distortion of vision) then a cornea transplant is normally needed. This is where healthy donated corneal tissue is grafted onto the damaged/diseased cornea to restore the damage caused by the corneal disease, with the graft coming from a deceased donor. Keratoconus surgery or cornea transplants are the most severe treatment methods as in some cases these conditions can be managed with corrective lenses.

The type of technology being utilised by ophthalmologists will alter depending on the specific condition being treated. For invasive cornea surgery a Ziemer LDV Femtosecond precision laser will be used. This particular piece of equipment lets a surgeon operate effectively without the use of a blade. There is also OCT (Ocular Coherence Tomographer), a new form of non-invasive imaging technology, that is being used more and more to map out the shape, size and exact contours of the eye. For more specialist conditions there is also Anti-VEGF drugs and Fluorescein angiography treatments. These are just a few examples of the equipment and procedures that are being currently used by ophthalmologists.

Despite the facts that many believe cataracts to be a condition that only affects the elderly, it does affect children and young people too. They are better known as congenital cataracts and they develop just before or just after birth. The key symptom of the condition include the clouding of the eye ranging from mild severity to total opacity. Near-sightedness (myopia) is one clear symptom as well as a failure to perceive the colour blue and a slow yellowing of the lens itself. Treatment consists of a cataract operation or cataract surgery. If it is not treated loss of vision and, in the worst case scenario, blindness can develop. In the elderly the condition leads to shrinkage of the lens and swelling.

Lasik eye surgery is a type of refractive surgery for correcting myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. As a result, this surgery is a viable alternative to wearing corrective lenses or glasses, which most people dislike wearing. In some ways the procedure is quite like other corrective surgical procedures like photo-refractive keratectomy and refractive surgery, making it a common answer to solving bad eye sight. As a procedure, it involves surgical remodelling of the cornea, specifically reshaping its curvature. There is a chance that the eye will reject the surgery and slowly return to its original condition but other side effects are minimal.

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