British Ophthalmologist Develops New Cutting Tool to Make Cataract Surgery Safer By Enabling a More Precise and Predictable Capsulorrhexis

March 12, 2009

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Dr. Ari Weitzner

It was reported that Dr. John Stokes, an ophthalmologist in Nottingham in the United Kingdom, has developed a new surgical device which could make cataract operations safer for millions of patients.

Currently surgeons performing cataract surgery have to use a needle or forceps to cut open the surrounding lens capsule so the cloudy lens can be sucked out. Dr. Stokes’ new device uses a cutting device controlled by the surgeon to make a neat circular hole in the capsule. Dr. Stokes said the innovation would would make the most intricate part of the cataract surgery easier for doctors.

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Filed in Cataract, New Technologies Tagged


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4 Responses to “British Ophthalmologist Develops New Cutting Tool to Make Cataract Surgery Safer By Enabling a More Precise and Predictable Capsulorrhexis”

  • Dr. Weitzner
    on March 17, 2009 9:40 am

    i stand corrected and i apologize- sorry about that!
    can anyone explain to me exactly how this thing works?- the links to those articles dont explain it in sufficient detail.

  • Andrew Gibbs
    on March 17, 2009 8:42 am

    NIce to hear from Dr. Weitzner on March 13th, 2009 10:06 am but he is incorrect. No laser is involved. Its has cutting edges, is low cost and controls centration, circularity and diameter.

    It is still early day development but details can be seen at:-

    http://www.warwickdesign.com/WellcomeTrustTranslationalAward.html
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7943135.stm
    http://www.em-nhs-hub.org/CS-NOD.aspx

    I hope that clears up any misinformation.

  • Lisa Banks
    on March 17, 2009 8:27 am

    The previous commentator is mistaken, this device is not a laser.

    A simple cutting device that can provide a more accurate and reproducable rhexis would be especially useful in paediatric cataract surgery (which is significantly more difficult due to the elasticity of the lens), and for trainee surgeons.

    Further information about the device can be found at

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7943135.stm

  • Dr. Weitzner
    on March 13, 2009 10:06 am

    i heard about this from potential investors. it’s a kind of laser. i don’t get all the hype,though- 99% of the time, we can do the rhexis with a needle and forceps- who is going to buy a big fancy laser for the other 1%? furthermore, the fugo blade (uses radio frequency i believe) has been proven to be able to make a perfect capsulorrhexis, and has been around for years, but it never took off for the same reason- it’s only needed 1% of the time.