Vision problems: beyond LASIK
Dr Mahipal Sachdev

Welcome to the world of infinite vision.

Over the years, laser eye treatment or LASIK has made an enormous difference to people with near-sight, far-sight and astigmatic vision problems. It is a difference that has changed their quality of life as well as their quality of vision.

A giant leap in laser refractive surgery now aims at trying to improve upon patients’ vision both quantitatively and qualitatively. A new instrument called the aberrometer has been developed which would map the imperfections (aberrations) of the eye. These aberrations would now be removed using the laser.

What is Zyoptix-100?

Zyoptix-100 is a highly advanced and sophisticated form of LASIK. It is a wavefrom guided LASIK or customised LASIK. Its highly sophisticated technology allows the surgeon to correct not only the glasses’ numbers but also the aberrations in the eye. It thus offers a personalised and customised vision solution for patients.

How Zyoptix-100 works?

It is based on the Wavefront technology. Wavefront is a known technology that has only recently been applied to human vision. Astronomers at NASA have used this in the past to map the surface of the moon and various other planets. In Zyoptix-100, wavefrom is actually used in two separate ophthalmic events. The first is to evaluate the existing aberrations in the eye and the second is to use what is learnt from the screening process in procedures like Zyoptix.

It is believed that even a normal eye, that most of us consider as an example of a perfect optical system, has various aberrations (defects), and like fingerprints the aberrations vary from one individual to another. That means no two human beings will have the same aberration patterns in their eyes. The aberrations in an eye adversely affect the vision and the optical performance of the eye.

At this stage it will be interesting and informative to understand as to how Wavefront technology actually works. During the Vavefront diagnosis, light is sent into the eye in a specific pattern, and then the light that gets reflected back from the eye is measured. Any difference between the pattern that was sent inside to what was measured is considered an aberration (defect). These are mapped and form the basis of customised treatment.

Advantages of Zyoptix over LASIK

This customisation of LASIK produces superior vision. It gives a sharper vision with greater contrast sensitivity which is more apparent during night. It also can be done in previously lasered eyes. It can correct higher refractive errors as compared to the LASIK.

The latest in ZYOPTIX is Zyoptix-100 which is even more personalised and specific because of its unique features.

What are the advantages of Zyoptix-100?

1. Iris recognition: Like your fingerprints no two irises are the same and thus can be used to provide a unique identification. New Z-100 has a new feature that scans your iris during the Zywave measurement and maps the entire iris generating a unique digital Zy-id for each eye. You can be 100 per cent sure that you are receiving the correct treatment for that eye along with rapid automatic patient identification and treatment.

2. Eye-tracker: The eye in its natural state is always in constant motion. The multi-dimensional eye-tracker guides the laser to the precise areas in the cornea that needs correction. In the event that the patients eye moves during the procedure, the eye-tracker forces the laser to stop and refocus its target areas. This technology greatly enhances the safety factor of LASIK.

3. Tissue-saving software: This allows the laser treatment in patients with thin corneas. Zyoptix-100 thus offers personalised and customised LASIK laser vision solution for the patients. It also holds the potential to deliver “eagle eye vision” to mankind.

— The writer is Chairman and Medical Director, Centre for Sight, New Delhi. E-mail: msachdev@bol.net.in

Cervical cancer: women should go in for
regular screening
Neelam Sharma
Tribune News Service

That is why cervical cancer is the leading cancer in the developing countries, but not in the developed countries where the awareness level is very high,” adds Prof Varma.

Managing diabetes, the diet way
Amar Chandel

There was a time when having diabetes was a confirmed ticket to a slow and painful death. But the discovery of various drugs and insulin injections has made the disease a little less dreaded one with which one can lead a fairly normal life. But these medicines have also given some patients a false sense of complacency. They feel that only the drugs are enough to take care of their ailment, forgetting that actually their health depends on a triad of drugs, diet and physical exercise. The other two happen to be as important as the medicine.

Doctors do remind patients of the absolute necessity of taking care of diet and exercise as well but somehow this sage advice falls on deaf years. Two such doctors, Dr Deepa Mehta and Dr S. A. Vali, have tried to do this through a book, “Speaking of Diabetes and Diet” (New Dawn Press). It has turned out to be a veritable manual for anyone who has already contracted the disease and also for those who are borderline cases and do not want to go to the stage of drug dependency.

The importance of diet is underlined so firmly that nearly half of the book is devoted to this subject alone. The ideal approach is to maintain normal body weight, do regular physical exercises, quit smoking, take balanced diet and limit cooking fats.

One should not copy the diet prescribed to somebody else because tailoring the diet to the individual need is probably the most important task in the dietary management of diabetes.

Even otherwise, an attempt has been made to demystify the disease so that the patient can learn to live with it without panicking. After all, conducting blood sugar tests on a daily basis and taking an injection every day is a daunting prospect. But what cannot be cured just has to be endured. It reminds the readers that once a patient takes his medicines regularly and also respects various do’s and don’ts, he can look forward to a long and active life.

It is not only the aged who develop this complication. It can even strike school children. Most cases of diabetes in childhood are the Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus, which has a peak age of onset at 12 years. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the prospect, the parents have to prepare themselves and their wards for a lifetime of loving care.

In fact, the major problem of the excessive prevalence of this disease is that people start treatment far too late. Some just ignore the symptoms. Others fall a prey to quacks. The repeated warning for them is: get tested at the earliest, for your sake. The common symptoms like extreme thirst, frequent urination, unexplained weight loss, blurry vision, unusual tiredness, tingling or numbness in the hands or feet and frequent or recurring skin, gum or bladder infections are best not ignored. If left untreated, diabetes may result in blindness, heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and amputations.

More important, you may have no symptoms and yet you may have diabetes.

A diabetic develops several serious complications, all of which require constant care. These include foot, gum and eye problems. The book familiarises the reader with all these and updates him on how to take charge of his treatment. After all, it is he who is responsible for daily care and control of his diabetic condition.

Pregnancy in diabetic women carries slightly greater risk than in normal women. Chances of miscarriage and still-birth are also greater. So such women have to take special precautions. Moreover, diabetes also develops during pregnancy (gestational diabetics).

As said earlier, diet control comprises a major part of diabetes care. The writers have not only included various charts mentioning how much calories and carbohydrates etc various Indian food items have but have also given recipes of various items which diabetics can eat in moderation.

Written in a simple language, the book can be a boon for patients as well as care-givers.

MRI may soon spot Alzheimer’s disease

LONDON: The markers of Alzheimer’s disease — amyloid plaques in the brain — can now be detected in living mice using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanners with the help of a new fluorine tracer, claim scientists in Japan.

The finding raises the possibility that people without overt symptoms may soon be diagnosed and treated in time. Currently, the standard way to confirm the presence of the plaques, and thus the disease, is by autopsy.

Amyloid plaques are insoluble protein clumps in the brain which form early in Alzheimer’s disease and can precede dementia by many years. Identifying people with Alzheimer’s while they are still asymptomatic means the disease could in theory be slowed, or even stopped, before irreversible neuron loss takes place. Other attempts to use brain scans, including PET and SPECT, have had some success. But PET, for example, is 50 times as expensive as MRI, has lower resolution and exposes patients to radiation.

Takaomi Saido at the Riken Brain Science Institute in Wako, Japan, and his team, have developed a new, non-toxic tracer that attaches itself to the amyloid plaques in the brain and can be detected by regular MRI scanners. The tracer is made from a form of fluorine that is a common additive in drinking water, and a form of hydrogen, which is known to bind to amyloid. — ANI

Tattoos may be harmful for health

WASHINGTON: Next time you put a tattoo on your skin, just think twice before doing so, as a new study has revealed that adverse side- effects of tattoos are associated with both their application and removal.

Chemistry students at Northern Arizona University looked at the chemical composition of a variety of tattoo inks to better understand their potential health risks and suggested that chemicals in tattoo inks need closer scrutiny.

“Tattoos are no longer limited to the rough and rowdy. With the growing popularity of tattoos among young people, it is vital that we develop a better understanding of this form of self expression,” said Haley Finley-Jones, an undergraduate chemistry student and lead author of the study.

Tattoo artists frequently mix inks to achieve the desired colour, so the researchers studied 17 inks from five different manufacturers. They selected their samples and tested different brands of black, as well as red, blue, yellow and white ink.

“At this point in the study, we have determined that the inks do in fact vary in composition from manufacturer to manufacturer and from colour to colour,” said another researcher Leslie Wagner.

According to the researchers, there have been a variety of claims that tattoo inks cause adverse effects in people, including allergic reactions to ink components, a burning sensation during the course of MRIs, and the migration of inks to different tissues in the body, such as the lungs.

There are other problems with unknown compositions of tattoo inks. For example, surgery to remove tattoos is becoming more widespread, and not knowing the composition makes the procedure more difficult, researchers said.

It is unclear, however, what the specific causes of these reactions might be, and the only way to gain better understanding is to know what chemicals make up the inks, they conclude. — ANI