Details on ophthalmology for anyone interested in becoming an eye surgeon

Plenty of locations have different clinics or surgeries. Most surgeries are based in major cities such as Manchester, Edinburgh or London. If you are searching for eye surgery close by then London could be the place for you. These well-heeled established clinics will place you on a waiting list. An advantage of this means that the clinic staff are vastly experienced. In particular cases, they may be coupled with officially recognised opticians so a simple suggestions is to have a chat with your own optician for their recommendations prior to speaking to an eye surgeon.The type of technology being utilised by ophthalmologists will alter depending on the specific condition being treated. For an invasive cornea surgical operation a Ziemer LDV Femtosecond precision laser is used. This piece of equipment enables a surgeon to operate on an eye without the need for a blade. There is an OCT (Ocular Coherence Tomographer), which is a new form of non-invasive imaging technology to map out in detail the shape, size and contours of the eye. for those that suffer from more complicated conditions there is Anti-VEGF drugs and Fluorescein angiography treatments. These are only a few examples of the procedures and equipment currently in use by qualified ophthalmologists.A cornea transplant is needed when a cornea becomes permanently damaged, possibly through disease. For instance, if someone is stricken with Fuchs dystrophy (a slow progressing corneal disease that is common in patients in their fifties) or Keratoconus (a degenerative disorder that affects the shape of the cornea, making it more conical than curved) then a cornea transplant may be required. A cornea transplant is where the damaged part of the cornea is replaced by donated corneal tissue to restore the damage caused by the disease - the graft coming from the cornea of a deceased donor. Cornea transplants or keratoconus surgery are the last resort for cornea diseases - in 9 out of 10 cases, conditions can easily be treated simply by wearing corrective lenses.Macular degeneration is a condition which affects older adults and results in loss of vision in the macula (the centre of the visual field) due to damage to the retina. When it develops it can cause impaired visions, specifically when reading or when trying to recognise faces. There are two forms of macular degeneration; dry and wet. The first is caused when cellular debris accumulates behind the retina, whilst wet macular degeneration is regarded as more serious and is caused by an abnormal growth of blood vessels behind the retina. As the progression of the disease can often be slowed by a range of treatments lasik eye surgery is usually is a last-resort.Lasik eye surgery, a form of refractive surgery, is used for correcting myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. As a result, this surgery is a viable alternative to wearing corrective lenses or glasses, which the majority of people don't enjoy wearing. The procedure is similar in certain aspects to other corrective surgical alternatives such as refractive surgery and photo-refractive keratectomy and is therefore a popular solution to eye sight problems. It involves surgically remodelling the cornea, in particular reshaping its curvature. There are chances that the eye will reject the surgery and gently return to its former state, however other side effects are low.In the UK, higher educational courses can offer postgraduate degrees in ophthalmology. These are The Royal College of Ophthalmologists, the Royal College of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Glasgow. An ophthalmologist must have one of these qualifications if they want to work in the UK. After the post graduate degree has been awarded, most people often gain placements at the NHS in order to further their practical skills and gain essential knowledge. In fact, some of the larger laser eye specialists even offer training programs to help people become fully qualified ophthalmologists. However, these are commonly vocational courses taken after a postgraduate qualification.