Dr. Clay Bundrick joined the Highland Clinic Ophthalmology team of physicians in 2014 to provide quality eye care to patients in the Northwest Louisiana area. Medical services include: Laser Cataract Surgery, Premium Lens Implants, Eyelid Surgery, Glaucoma, Diabetic Eye Disease, Dry Eye Syndrome, Macular Degeneration, and Glasses and Contact Lens.

What is a Cataract? The clouding of you lens which has three main purposes: to see clearly, refract light and provide accommodations. If a lens becomes harder because of cataracts, you’ll lose the ability to read up close. The good news is, with the advancements in technology in the industry, surgery can be done on the Cornea and the Lens. When a cataract is involved, surgery takes place on the lens, unlike Lasik which involves the cornea. If your vision is cloudy, you feel like your glasses aren’t as good or the glare from headlights at night is more bothersome than in the past, you may be developing cataracts. Some people are born with cataracts and if not addressed within the first six weeks their eye won’t develop properly.

A little history on how cataract surgery has progressed…

• Couching was practiced from 800 BC in India, to the time of the Enlightenment. Couching consisted of inserting a needle 4 mm posterior the limbus, and forcing the lens posteriorly into the vitreous cavity. This was only done on intumescent lenses to allow the patient sufficient vision to ambulate.
• Introducing ICCE: The whole lens/capsule/ zonules… everything comes out! ICCE became the accepted method of surgery in the early 20th century until the early 1980s. These patients had no lens and would be required to wear the coke-bottle type glasses/contacts.
• EXTRAcapsular cataract surgery (ECCE ) came about in the 1970’s with the operating being done with a microscope. It was a smaller incision yet still huge compared to today’s incisions.
• The biggest breakthrough in cataract surgery was brought about by Dr. Kelman in 1967 called Phacoemulsification. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, it became the most popular technique for cataract extraction.
• Today, incisions are smaller than ever and the lens replacements are as close to yours as possible using the Premium IOL’s Lens. A newer invention is the LenSx laser which does the most critical part of the surgery for the surgeon. With the introduction of the ORA machine, cataract surgery is the most successful procedure in the history of medicine (see inset). Nearly 90% of patient with cataract surgery come away without having to wear glasses!

If you are looking for an ophthalmologist or curious to know if you have the beginning stages of cataracts, give Dr. Clay Bundrick a call to schedule a consultation.