Ophthalmology, the medicine specializing in disease, surgery, and treatment of the eye, has been on the forefront of laser surgery with a growing number of people electing to skip the knife and choose the laser instead.

Laser, which is an acronym for light amplified by stimulated emission of radiation, is a surgical device which uses electromagnetic radiation in the form of high energy light waves called photons. These photons, unlike other radiation heat sources, act in sync with each other, which give it its extreme power.

Laser, then, plays a huge role in modern ophthalmology as it is a great tool for precise surgical procedures of the eye. Laser in ophthalmology is used to both alter human tissue (photocoagulate, cut, remove, shrink, and stretch the ocular tissue) and activate drugs when treating ocular diseases.

Lasers in Ophthalmology
Laser technology is improving day by day using various types of laser treatments in ophthalmology. The most commonly used are ruby,neodymium - yttrium - aluminum - garnet, erbium and argon. These help in diagnostics and the treatment of various ocular disorders.

One of the most dreadful eye diseases is glaucoma which can lead to sight loss forever. With the improvement of lasers in ophthalmology the treatment for glaucoma has been discovered. But it is only recommended if any other medical therapy fails in the specific case and fails to control the pressure within the eye. The commonly used laser procedure in this is peripheral iridotomy. This is performed particularly for the patients with narrow angles, acute angle closure or papillary block glaucoma.

Then the usage of Argon laser began to replace the surgical iridectomy to be safer than the previous one. But it was said to be requiring melanin for tissue absorption of the energy. So later on the Qswitched mode of the Nd:YAG laser came into use. It does not require melanin pigment for iris absorption. But it has some risks involved as corneal injury, iris hemorrhage, iritis, blurred vision, irritation etc.

Ketamine anaesthesia for paediatric ophthalmology surgery
Children with treatable, vision impairing conditions may not have access to surgical care when they live in regions where anaesthesia is unavailable. The use of ketamine anaesthesia in a developing region was studied to determine its safety and effectiveness.

Ketamine is an effective agent for both intraocular and extraocular surgery in the paediatric age group. None of the children in this series needed resuscitation or intubations, and the ophthalmic surgery was carried out safely. Ketamine can be used safely in any ophthalmic procedure of short duration by a person having some training in anaesthetic resuscitation procedures. Because of its simplicity and safety, ketamine may be useful in a simple ophthalmic setup in the developing word.