The department of
Ophthalmology, St Stephen’s hospital, was conceived with the need to
provide service to those with impairment of sight and attempt to restore
what perhaps is the most valuable of all the senses, that which provides
meaning and worth to all that is beautiful and true.
Designed to provide
comprehensive eye care under one roof, the services range from primary
level community based rehabilitation services to state of art tertiary
level care. The department functions as distinct sub-specialty services
to enable optimal day-to-day functioning even as every endeavor is made
to scale and master professional heights of excellence.
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CATARACT SERVICES:
From being the
first centre to have intraocular lens implantation, the commitment to
provide large scale quality services to the needy continued with
continual adoption of newer techniques of cataract extraction, some
being developed entirely in-house. Today, intraocular lens
implantation is provided universally to all patients. It remains one
of the few centres to offer sutureless cataract surgery to nearly all
patients as also topical anaesthesia surgery to a majority. Incision
sizes have constantly been decreasing from 9mm of the conventional
surgery and 3.0mm of phacoemulsification to the newer 1.5mm and
sub-millimeter techniques.
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GLAUCOMA SERVICES: The department has
a very dynamic glaucoma unit with a wide range of surgical and
conventional management protocols. Pathologies from congenital
glaucoma to acquired primary and secondary glaucomas are dealt with.
Routine trabeculectomy has evolved to safer and more effective
techniques of deep sclerostomy, trabeculectomy with adjuncts; seton
procedures, to name a few. The department can boast of being one the
very few centres where in-house setons are fashioned and used.
Research into newer drugs and less invasive techniques of glaucoma
management remains a major thrust area.
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CORNEA SERVICES:
As a partner of the
Edward Maumenee Eye Bank in the Hospital Corneal retrieval programme,
the hospital underlines its policy of service to the suffering by
providing hope to the large number of corneal blind who wait for larg-hearted
donors to leave them tissues after death.
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VITREO-RETINAL SERVICES: The
department has recently acquired a digital fundus examination system
and a green photocoagulating laser which expands its activities in
this all important area. Laser and interventional vitreous surgeries
are routinely conducted as required. In order to provide the best, the
activity is coordinated with other departments, particularly for the
management of multi-system disorders such as diabetes.
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PAEDIATRIC OPHTHALMOLOGY SERVICES:
Specialised eye care for children has been a major activity of the
department with support from a well established paediatric department.
Our services range from monitoring visual development in children with
systemic compromise to interventional therapy for strabismus,
childhood cataract, glaucoma, neurovisual disorders, keratoplasty as
also low visual aids for children.
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OCULOPLASTIC, RECONSTRUCTIVE AND AESTHETIC
SURGERY: Structural disorders of the lid, lacrimal
apparatus and the orbit are treated with special emphasis on the
restoration of function. Cosmetic and aesthetic procedures in and
around the eye such as blepharoplasty, lid reconstruction, scar
revisions, removal of wrinkles and dark circles are also undertaken
using conventional surgical techniques as well newer modalities such
as botulinium toxin injections and resurfacing procedures.
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NEURO-OPHTHALMOLOGY:
The department
provides management facilities for optic nerve disorders such as
traumatic optic neuropathy, optic nerve vascular disorders, optic
nerve pathologies associated with central nervous system disorders
such as intracranial tumours and raised intracranial pressure due to
other causes. In addition, the unit provides help to those with ocular
motility disorders such as nystagmus, restrictive and neuroparalytic
stramismus, facial nerve palsy, blepharospasm, hemifacial spasm using
both conventional interventional modalities as well as
chemodenervation.
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VISUAL REHABILITATION UNIT:
The
problem of low vision in the community and the means to alleviate
resultant practical problems remains an important one. In order to
address this, the department is working on a holistic visual
rehabilitation unit encompassing the following:
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Visual
development assessment: in order to monitor the development of
visual functions particularly in children with systemic compromise.
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Neurovisual rehabilitation: for patients with visual compromise
following strokes, head injury, central nervous system tumours.
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Low
vision aids: For patients with a decreased vision due to any cause,
special appliances and lenses may be provided to attempt to restore
function to near optimal levels. These are largely made in the
department itself according to the visual requirements of the
patient.
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COMMUNITY OPHTHALMOLOGY SERVICES:
Community ophthalmology services form the backbone of all activities
of the department reflecting the hospital’s philosophy of service. The
activities include:
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Community based
rehabilitation: This is aimed at providing rehabilitative services
at the doorstep so as to enable the planning of need-based
individualized service as well as maximal utilization.
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Camps: Indoor and
outdoor camps are organized at regular intervals wherein surgery and
treatment as may be required is provided free of cost.
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Blind school visits:
The adoption of a blind school to provide eye care as may be required
to all its resident students as well as to attempt visual
rehabilitation at the school itself.
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Surveys:
Routine data collection from the community is done to assess the
actual felt needs and plan future intervention at the community level.
This also helps in building rapport with the local population where
health care is being delivered.
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School health programme:
In association with the community medicine department to assess and
provide health care to the young at an appropriate age and at an
easily accessible place.
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