First robot eye surgery

[rbaker]

UK surgeons carry out world's first robot eye surgery

British surgeons have performed the world's first robotic operation inside an eye.

Father William Beaver, 70, an associate priest at St Mary the Virgin Church in Oxford, reported that his eyesight was returning following the pioneering procedure.

The priest had been battling distorted vision which he described as similar to "looking in a hall of mirrors at a fairground".

His eyesight is now returning after surgeons completed the procedure at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.

Now it is hoped that the successful operation could revolutionize the way such conditions are treated.

Professor Robert MacLaren, one of the surgeons, said: "There is no doubt in my mind that we have just witnessed a vision of eye surgery in the future".

The procedure had become necessary as Father Beaver had a membrane growing on the surface of his retina, which had contracted and pulled it into an uneven shape.
That membranewas about 100th of a millimeter thick and needed to be dissected off the retina without damaging it.

Surgeons normally attempt this by slowing their pulse and timing movements between heartbeats, but the robot could make it much easier.

During the procedure, medics used a joystick and touch screen outside the eye to control the robot while monitoring its progress through the operating microscope.

This gave them a notable advantage as significant movements of the joystick resulted in tiny movements of the robot.

My sight is coming back.

I am delighted that my surgery went so well and I feel honored to be part of this pioneering research project
– Father William Beaver

Last updated Sat 10 Sep 2016

[Chris Ryser]

good job Dick,................... interesting, we have to look for really new stuff and not just the old optical which invents contentiously the latest ideas to sell for a lot of money, that have been around for 30 years.

The world is changing faster by the minute ....................and my father, used to say that he had lived in the most interesting times ever, from the modern passenger airplanes to the typewriters and modern lens edgers, then still without diamond wheels.(He died in 1987)

.................and I am typing this post on my new laptop which has also a touchscreen, and voice recognition, however I am doing it the old fashioned finger tip way, typing to get used to the slightly different keyboard.