Lens refers to the lens of the eye. In what cases is it necessary to replace the eye lens with an artificial one?


The lens of the eye is a structural element without which the process of conducting and refracting light rays will not occur. The location of the lens, which has a biconvex shape, is the posterior chamber of the eye. With age, the thickness of the lens often increases. As long as the lens functions without disruption, vision remains normal. But if certain ailments occur or this element has to be removed, the quality of vision noticeably deteriorates.

The lens of the eye begins to form in the fourth week of pregnancy, which indicates its importance for visual system and for the whole organism as a whole. In shape it is similar to a biconvex lens. The front and back surfaces have different curvatures. Each surface has its own center. They are connected to each other by an axis.

The entire lens is covered with a capsule, which is transparent. Its upper area is the anterior bursa. There is also a posterior capsule. The difference between them is the presence of an epithelial layer. The front bag is completely covered with it. There is no similar layer in the posterior capsule. The epithelium is necessary for metabolic processes to proceed without failure. In addition, epithelial cells multiply all the time, which is why the lens can grow.

The structure of the lens suggests the presence of the following histological subunits:

  1. Cores. Located in the center of the lens. As the body ages, the nucleus becomes larger. As a result, transparency decreases, which is certainly reflected in visual function.
  2. Cortical layer. Covers the core. It contains newly formed fibers, which after maturation become part of the core.

It is worth knowing that a biconvex lens is a completely epithelial element, that is, it does not contain:

The transparency of the lens is affected by chemical composition fluid produced inside the eye. Therefore, any changes often provoke clouding.

Functional characteristics

This structural element is especially important for the functioning of the entire visual apparatus.

Therefore, its functions should be listed in more detail:

  • Thanks to the presence of the lens, photons of light pass unhindered to the retina. In other words, it has a light-conducting function. And the higher its transparency, the this function will perform better.

  • The refraction of a stream of light rays is not complete without such an important part optical system like a crystal. Thus, vision remains bright and clear.
  • The biconvex lens contributes to the accommodative mechanism. How well a person will see objects located both close and far depends on its normal functioning. Focusing of the image occurs spontaneously.
  • Another function is the role of a septum, dividing the organ of vision into two parts. It turns out that the anterior section becomes protected, since there is compression from the side vitreous. In addition, microorganisms will not be able to penetrate the vitreous from the anterior chamber.

When, due to exposure to negative factors, diseases of the lens occur or it is removed surgically, the lens cannot perform the listed functions in their entirety.

Possible diseases affecting the lens

If the doctor suspects the presence of a pathology, he will certainly conduct an examination.

In particular, the diagnosis will consist of:

  1. Visometry, thanks to which the ophthalmologist will be able to analyze visual acuity.
  2. Ultrasound examination.
  3. Biomicroscopic examination using a slit lamp.
  4. Coherence tomography.

When lens diseases are already present, the condition is accompanied by many clinical manifestations:

  • due to the impaired accommodation process during reading, difficulties arise in distinguishing the font;
  • vision becomes cloudy;
  • the patient complains of circles before the eyes, especially after looking at the light;
  • there is an altered color perception (instead of one color a person sees another);
  • visual acuity often decreases so much that only light perception remains;
  • looking at an object, the patient sees dark spots small size or point.

The lens is the most important component of the human visual apparatus. Its light-refracting and light-conducting functions are performed due to characteristic structure.

That is, such a lens, which is biconvex, has high elasticity and transparency. If the structure is abnormal, then problems arise with the functions, which certainly affects the entire optical system.

Doctors always strongly recommend at first negative symptoms ask for help. After the examination, if the need arises, a treatment plan will be drawn up.

There are a variety of lens diseases.

A person may have:

  1. Aphakia, that is, a pathology of a congenital nature. Its peculiarity is the absence of a lens.
  2. Microphakia (a condition in which a structural element decreases in size).
  3. Macrophakia (an increase is observed).
  4. Coloboma, in which part of the tissue is missing.
  5. Congenital dislocation (light-conducting function is impaired).
  6. Lentiglobus (lenticonus). This condition is accompanied by a cone-shaped or spherical protrusion of the lens surface.
  7. Cataract (when transparency decreases). Either the primary form or the secondary form is diagnosed.
  8. Disturbances after injury. If eye injuries occur and the threads that support the lens are torn, it often becomes dislodged. If the connecting threads come off completely, then there is a dislocation. If there is a partial rupture, it is a subluxation.

In a word, various pathologies may have innate character or be acquired. The latest types of illnesses manifest themselves in humans in the form of deterioration in the transparency of the lens.

Unfortunately, with age, all structures and organs of the body change. A similar statement applies to the lens. For any anomalies or injuries, the consequences can be irreparable. Discomfort in the visual area should not be ignored. The sooner a violation is detected, the easier it is to eliminate it. Thanks to timely treatment many people have maintained healthy visual systems. And of course, oh preventive methods should never be forgotten.

The human eye is a complex optical system whose task is to transmit the correct image to the optic nerve. The components of the organ of vision are fibrous, vascular, retina and internal structures.

The fibrous membrane is the cornea and sclera. Through the cornea, refracted particles enter the organ of vision. The opaque sclera acts as a framework and has protective functions.

Through the choroid, the eyes are supplied with blood, which contains nutrients and oxygen.

Below the cornea is the iris, which provides the color to a person's eyes. In its center is a pupil that can change size depending on the lighting. Between the cornea is the intraocular fluid, which protects the cornea from microbes.

The next part of the choroid is called due to which the production of intraocular fluid occurs. Choroid is in direct contact with the retina and provides it with energy.

The retina is made up of several layers nerve cells. Thanks to this organ, light perception and image formation are ensured. After this, information is transferred via optic nerve into the brain.

The internal part of the organ of vision consists of anterior and posterior chambers filled with transparent intraocular fluid, lens and vitreous body. has a jelly-like appearance.

An important component of the human visual system is the lens. The functions of the lens are to ensure the dynamism of eye optics. It helps you see different objects equally well. Already at the 4th week of embryo development, the lens begins to form. Structure and functions, as well as operating principle and possible diseases We will look at it in this article.

Structure

This organ is similar to a biconvex lens, the front and back surfaces of which have different curvatures. central part each of them has poles that are connected by an axis. The axis length is approximately 3.5-4.5 mm. Both surfaces are connected along a contour called the equator. An adult has the dimensions optical lens eyes 9-10 mm, on top it is covered by a transparent capsule (anterior bursa), inside of which there is a layer of epithelium. The posterior capsule is located on the opposite side; it does not have such a layer.

Opportunity for growth eye lens is provided by epithelial cells that constantly multiply. There are no nerve endings, blood vessels, or lymphoid tissue in the lens, it is entirely epithelial formation. The transparency of this organ is affected by the chemical composition of the intraocular fluid; if this composition changes, clouding of the lens may occur.

Lens composition

The composition of this organ is as follows - 65% water, 30% protein, 5% lipids, vitamins, various inorganic substances and their compounds, as well as enzymes. The main protein is crystallin.

Principle of operation

The lens of the eye is the anatomical structure of the anterior segment of the eye; normally it should be perfectly transparent. The principle of operation of the lens is to focus light rays reflected from an object into the macular zone of the retina. For the image on the retina to be clear, it must be transparent. When light hits the retina, an electrical impulse is generated, which travels through the optic nerve to the visual center brain. The brain's job is to interpret what the eyes see.

The role of the lens in the functioning of the human vision system is very important. First of all, it has a light-conducting function, that is, it ensures the passage of light to the retina. The light-conducting functions of the lens are ensured by its transparency.

Besides, this body takes an active part in the refraction of light flux and has optical power about 19 diopters. Thanks to the lens, the functioning of the accommodative mechanism is ensured, with the help of which the focusing of the visible image is spontaneously adjusted.

This organ helps us easily move our gaze from distant objects to those that are nearby, which is ensured by a change in refractive power eyeball. When the fibers of the muscle that surrounds the lens contract, the tension of the capsule decreases and the shape of this optical lens of the eye changes. It becomes more convex, due to which nearby objects are clearly visible. When the muscle relaxes, the lens becomes flat, allowing you to see distant objects.

In addition, the lens is a partition that divides the eye into two sections, thereby protecting the anterior sections of the eyeball from excessive pressure of the vitreous body. This is also an obstacle to the passage of microorganisms that do not enter the vitreous body. This demonstrates the protective functions of the lens.

Diseases

The causes of diseases of the optical lens of the eye can be very diverse. These include violations of its formation and development, and changes in location and color that occur with age or as a result of injuries. There is also abnormal development of the lens, which affects its shape and color.

Pathologies such as cataracts or clouding of the lens often occur. Depending on the location of the opacification zone, there are anterior, layered, nuclear, posterior and other forms of the disease. Cataracts can be either congenital or acquired during life as a result of injuries, age-related changes and a number of other reasons.

Sometimes injuries and rupture of the threads that provide correct position lens, can lead to its displacement. When the threads are completely ruptured, the lens dislocates; a partial rupture leads to subluxation.

Symptoms of lens damage

As a person ages, a person's visual acuity decreases and it becomes much more difficult to read at close range. Slowing metabolism leads to changes optical properties lens, which becomes denser and less transparent. The human eye begins to see objects with less contrast, and the image often loses color. When more severe opacities develop, visual acuity decreases significantly and cataracts occur. The location of the clouding affects the degree and speed of vision loss.

Age-related clouding takes a long time to develop, up to several years. Because of this, impaired vision in one eye may go unnoticed. long time. But even at home you can determine the presence of cataracts. To do this, you need to look at a blank sheet of paper with one eye, then with the other. If the disease is present, the leaf will appear dull and have a yellowish tint. People with this pathology need bright lighting in which they can see well.

Cloudiness of the lens can be caused by the presence of inflammatory process(iridocyclitis) or long-term use medicines which contain steroid hormones. Various studies have confirmed that glaucoma causes clouding of the optical lens of the eye to occur faster.

Diagnostics

Diagnostics consists of testing visual acuity and examination with a special optical device. The ophthalmologist evaluates the size and structure of the lens, determines the degree of its transparency, the presence and location of opacities, which lead to a decrease in visual acuity. When examining the lens, the method of lateral focal illumination is used, in which its anterior surface, located within the pupil, is examined. If there is no opacification, the lens is not visible. In addition, there are other research methods - examination in transmitted light, examination using a slit lamp (biomicroscopy).

How to treat?

Treatment is mainly surgical. Pharmacy chains offer various drops, but they are not able to restore the transparency of the lens, and also do not guarantee the cessation of the development of the disease. Surgery is the only procedure that ensures complete recovery. To remove cataracts, extracapsular extraction with suturing of the cornea can be used. There is another method - phacoemulsification with minimal self-sealing incisions. The removal method is chosen depending on the density of the opacities and the condition of the ligamentous apparatus. The experience of the doctor is no less important.

As the eye lens plays important role during the operation of the human vision system, then various injuries and disruptions to its operation often lead to irreparable consequences. The slightest signs of visual impairment or discomfort in the eye area are a reason to immediately consult a doctor, who will make a diagnosis and prescribe the necessary treatment.

Lens – important element optical system of the eye, the average refractive power of which is 20-22 diopters.
It is located in the posterior chamber of the eye and has an average size of 4-5 mm in thickness and 8-9 mm in height. The thickness of the lens normally increases very slowly but steadily with age. It is presented in the form of a biconvex lens, the front surface of which is flatter and the back more convex.
The lens is transparent, thanks to the function of special proteins crystallins, it has a thin, also transparent capsule or lens sac, to which fibers of the zonules of the ciliary body are attached along the circumference, which fix its position and can change the curvature of its surface. The ligamentous apparatus of the lens ensures the immobility of its position exactly on the visual axis, which is necessary for clear vision. The lens consists of a nucleus and cortical layers around this nucleus - the cortex. IN at a young age It has a rather soft, gelatinous consistency, and therefore easily succumbs to the tension of the ciliary body ligaments during the process of accommodation.
In some congenital diseases, the lens may have an incorrect position in the eye due to weakness and imperfect development of the ligamentous apparatus, and may also have congenital opacities in the nucleus or cortex, which can reduce vision.

Symptoms of the lesion

With age, the structure of the nucleus and cortex of the lens becomes denser and responds less well to the tension of the ligamentous apparatus and weakly changes the curvature of its surface. Therefore, upon reaching 40 years of age, a person who has always seen well into the distance becomes more difficult to read. close range.
An age-related decrease in metabolism in the body, and consequently a decrease in it in intraocular structures, leads to changes in the structure and optical properties of the lens. In addition to its compaction, it begins to lose its transparency. At the same time, the image that a person sees may become yellower, less bright in colors, and duller. There is a feeling that you are looking “as if through a cellophane film,” which does not go away even when using glasses. With more severe opacities, visual acuity may decrease significantly down to light perception. This condition of the lens is called cataract.

Cataract opacities can be located in the nucleus of the lens, in the cortex, directly under its capsule and, depending on this, will reduce visual acuity more or less, faster or slower. All age-related lens opacities occur rather slowly over several months or even years. Therefore, people often do not notice for a long time that the vision of one eye has become worse. When looking at the clean White list paper, it may appear more yellowish and dull with one eye than the other. Halos may appear when looking at a light source. You may notice that you can only see in very good lighting.
Often lens opacities are caused not by age-related metabolic disorders, but by long-term inflammatory diseases eyes, such as chronic iridocyclitis, as well as long-term use of tablets or drops containing steroid hormones. Many studies have reliably confirmed that in the presence of glaucoma, the lens in the eye becomes cloudy faster and more often.
Blunt trauma to the eye can also cause progression of opacities in the lens and/or disruption of its ligamentous apparatus.

Diagnosis of the condition of the lens

Diagnosis of the condition and functions of the lens and its ligamentous apparatus is based on testing visual acuity and biomicroscopy of the anterior segment. An ophthalmologist can use the device to evaluate the size and structure of your lens, the degree of its transparency, and determine in detail the presence and location of opacities in it that reduce visual acuity. For a more detailed examination of the lens and its ligamentous apparatus, pupil dilation may be required. Moreover, with a certain location of the opacities, after dilation of the pupil, vision may improve, since the diaphragm will begin to transmit light through the transparent areas of the lens.

Sometimes a lens that is relatively thick in diameter or long in height can fit so closely to the iris or ciliary body that it can narrow the angle of the anterior chamber of the eye, through which the main outflow of intraocular fluid occurs. This mechanism is the main one in the occurrence of narrow-angle or closed-angle glaucoma. Ultrasound biomicroscopy or anterior segment optical coherence tomography may be required to assess the relationship of the lens with the ciliary body and iris.

Treatment of lens diseases

Treatment of lens diseases is usually surgical.
There are many drops available that are designed to stop age-related clouding of the lens, but they cannot return you to its original clarity or guarantee that it will stop further clouding. Today, the operation of removing a cataract - a clouded lens - and replacing it with intraocular lens, is an operation with complete recovery.

Techniques for cataract removal vary from extracapsular extraction with suturing of the cornea to phacoemulsification with minimal self-sealing incisions. The choice of removal method depends on the degree and density of lens opacities, the strength of its ligamentous apparatus, and also, importantly, on the qualifications of the ophthalmic surgeon.

1 The human lens is biconvex and is located behind the iris, attached to the ciliary body. The lens is held in its bed by the elastic ligament of Zinn and the hyaloid-lensicular ligament of Wieger. In separate statements of Cornelius Celsus (50-25 BC) and Galen (131-201 BC) there is data not only about the lens, but also about the possible causes of its clouding. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) suggested the possible refractive role of the lens, and Risso in 1705 proved, by dissecting the eyes of the dead, that the cause of blindness could be clouding of the lens.

As a diopter of the eye, it reproduces on the surface of the retina a reduced and inverted picture of the object in question. At the same time, the lens is a light filter for the retina, protecting it from harmful short-wave light rays. By absorbing blue and violet rays to a significant extent, the lens helps reduce chromatic aberrations in the eye, which turn the edges of the image into colored ones.

Lens opacities, or cataracts, occur due to a number of reasons. Developed methods surgical treatment do not always lead to vision restoration. Therefore, one of the pressing issues in ophthalmology is the development of non-invasive methods for treating cataracts, which requires comprehensive data on the morphological features of the lens and its interaction with surrounding structures. This served as the basis for justifying the purpose of our study.

We studied the eyes of a person aged 30 to 60 years using morphological methods research.

It has been established that the lens consists of: 1) from the lens’s own substance, formed by long hexagonal fibers with two wide and four narrow surfaces; 2) from the surrounding elastic capsule or lens bag; 3) from the epithelium of the lens, located subcapsularly on the anterior surface of the organ and consisting of a single layer of cubic or flat cells. The epithelium covers only the inner surface of the anterior capsule, therefore it is called the epithelium of the anterior capsule. Its cells have a hexagonal shape. At the equator, the cells acquire an elongated shape and turn into lens fibers. The formation of fibers occurs throughout life, which leads to an enlargement of the lens. However, excessive enlargement of the lens does not occur, since the central, older fibers lose water, become denser and gradually form a compact core in the center. The plasma membrane of cells contains pores that facilitate the passage of nutrients through them. The core is surrounded by a double-circuit membrane with pores. Its outer layer is a continuation of the endoplasmic reticulum. The cytoplasm contains numerous ribosomes, mitochondria of small size and normal structure, elements of the Golgi complex, and dense lysosomes. Pinocytotic vacuoles, centrioles, and microtubules are visible. In addition to actin, tubulin and vimetin were found in human lens epithelial cells.

The function of the lens epithelium is fiber formation. Cell differentiation is morphologically expressed in the progressive elongation of cells, the bases of which shift to the equator to the posterior capsule, and the apices grow anterior to the equator towards the anterior pole. Therefore, the fiber-forming epithelium passes directly into the younger lens fibers, and the synthesis in the lens fibers is carried out primarily on the basis of the diploid organization of their nuclei.

The central, denser part of the lens - its nucleus - consists of meridionally located fibers with jagged edges and devoid of nuclei. The fibers that make up the softer peripheral substance are equipped with nuclei, have smooth contours and are arranged somewhat spirally. The fiber-binding substance accumulates on the anterior and back sides lens in the form of a three-rayed lens star. Here the junction of the lens fibers occurs. In this case, the fibers originating from the center of the star end on the opposite side at the end of the beam of another star, and vice versa. Thus, the fibers do not cover the entire half of the lens. Lens stars are arranged so that the rays of one pass in the gap between the rays of the other. In humans, the lens stars are irregularly multi-rayed.

The lens capsule consists of scleroproteins and polysaccharides, which are similar to collagen, but also contains traces of glutathione and nucleotides. It is characterized by double refraction. IN electron microscope The fibrillar structure of the lens capsule is revealed.

In the lens capsule, although it represents a single formation, the anterior and posterior sections are conventionally distinguished, separated at the equator by the zonular plate. The thickness of the anterior capsule of the human lens is 0.008-0.02 mm, and the posterior one is 0002-0.004 mm, increasing with age, with the equatorial section always remaining the thickest. The zonular plate can be separated, since it is formed from the fibers of the ciliary girdle woven into the bag at different angles and branching in a network. It should be noted that excessive tension in the fibers of the ciliary girdle can lead to separation of the zonular plate from the lens capsule and subsequent dislocation of the posterior chamber intraocular lens placed in the capsular bag. The lens capsule is formed by “thickening” the basement membrane and increases through long-term layering of the basal substance of constant (electronic) density, located parallel to the primary basement membrane. The ability of epithelial cells to form capsules persists throughout life. On the inside back surface In the basement membrane there are depressions into which the lens fibers enter, which creates conditions for increasing the contact surface and adhesion between them and the capsule. In the anterior section of the capsule, channels measuring 02-0.5 microns were found, going to the equator. It can be assumed that they are involved in admission nutrients into the lens. The human crunch-face capsule is structureless and has the same electron density throughout. Interest in studying the structure of the lens capsule is associated with the widespread use of extra-capsular cataract extraction.

The lens is attached to the ciliary body using the ciliary ligament, which consists of homogeneous and inextensible fibers starting from the basement membrane of the ciliary epithelium and attaching to the lens capsule on both sides of the equator. The equatorial surface of the lens, together with the anterior and posterior fibers of the ciliary girdle, limits the space, which has a triangular shape on meridional sections. This space is called the Petit or Hannover Canal. In fact, there is no channel here, since the ciliary belt is formed not by continuous plates, but by separate threads.

It is believed that the ciliary band not only suspends the lens, but also ensures the supply of nutrients to it from the processes of the ciliary body. For an ophthalmic surgeon during extracapsular cataract extraction, the asymmetry of the ciliary band attachment is of significant interest. Since the zone of its attachment on the medial side is narrower than on the lateral side, the most dangerous during surgical intervention is the equatorial zone, 2.2 mm wide on the lateral side and 0.9 mm wide on the medial side of the equator.

The anterior surface of the lens is in contact with the pupillary edge of the iris and in the area of ​​the pupil is washed by the moisture of the anterior chamber of the eye. Throughout the rest of the length, the anterior surface of the lens, its equator and a small subequatorial area are washed by the intraocular fluid of the posterior chamber. Most of the posterior surface of the lens is in contact with the vitreous body, separated from it by a narrow capillary gap - Berger's lens space. Along the outer edge, the lens space is limited by the hyaloidocapsular ligament, which fixes the lens to the vitreous body. This Viger's ligament consists of very fine fibrils emerging from the limiting membrane of the vitreous body. When the posterior portion of the ciliary girdle fibers is pulled during surgery, traction can be transmitted to the anterior hyaloid membrane of the vitreous body and the retina, causing their trauma.

There are no blood vessels and nerves in the lens, so it is deprived of sensitivity, and trophic provision is carried out by osmosis.

The work was submitted for scientific international conference « Contemporary issues experimental and clinical medicine", Bangkok, Pattaya (Thailand), December 20-30, 2008. Received 12/10/2008.

Bibliographic link

Reva G.V., Gaponko O.V., Vashchenko E.V. STRUCTURE OF THE CLENS OF THE HUMAN EYE // Advances in modern natural science. – 2009. – No. 1. – P. 49-51;
URL: http://natural-sciences.ru/ru/article/view?id=9754 (access date: 07/18/2019). We bring to your attention magazines published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural Sciences"

The lens is one of the most important elements of the optical system of the eye, located in the posterior eye chamber. Its average dimensions are 4-5 mm in thickness and up to 9 mm in height, with a refractive power of 20-22D. The shape of the lens resembles a biconvex lens, the front surface of which has a flatter configuration, and the back one is more convex. The thickness of the lens increases quite slowly but steadily with age.

Normally, the lens is transparent, thanks to the special proteins crystallins included in its composition. It has a thin, transparent capsule - the lens sac. Along the circumference, fibers of the ligaments of zinn from the ciliary body are attached to this sac. The ligaments fix the position of the lens and, if necessary, change the curvature of the surface. The ligamentous lens apparatus ensures the immobility of the organ’s position on the visual axis, thereby ensuring clear vision.

The lens consists of a nucleus and cortical layers around this nucleus - the cortex. In young people, the lens has a fairly soft, gelatinous consistency, which facilitates the tension of the ciliary body ligaments during accommodation.

Some congenital diseases The lens makes its position in the eye incorrect due to weakness or imperfection of the ligamentous apparatus; in addition, they can be caused by local congenital opacities of the nucleus or cortex, which can reduce visual acuity.

Symptoms of lens damage

Age-related changes make the structure of the nucleus and cortex of the lens more dense, which causes its weaker response to ligament tension and changes in surface curvature. Therefore, upon reaching the age of 40, it becomes increasingly difficult to read at close range, even if a person has had excellent vision all his life.

An age-related slowdown in metabolism, which also affects intraocular structures, leads to changes in the optical properties of the lens. It begins to thicken and lose its transparency. The images visible in this case may lose their former contrast and even color. There is a feeling of looking at objects “through cellophane film”, which does not go away even with glasses. With the development of more severe cloudings, vision decreases significantly.

Diagnostics

Diagnostic measures for the condition and functioning of the lens, as well as its ligamentous apparatus, include testing visual acuity and biomicroscopy of the anterior segment. At the same time, the doctor evaluates the size and structure of the lens, determines the degree of its transparency, and checks for the presence and location of opacities that can reduce visual acuity. Often, dilation of the pupil is required for detailed studies. Since, with a certain localization of opacities, dilation of the pupil leads to improved vision, because the diaphragm begins to transmit light through the transparent areas of the lens.

Occasionally, a thicker diameter or longer lens fits so closely to the iris or ciliary body that it narrows the angle of the anterior chamber through which the main outflow of existing fluid occurs into the eye. Similar condition - main reason the occurrence of glaucoma (narrow-angle or closed-angle). To assess the relative position of the lens and ciliary body, as well as the iris, ultrasound biomicroscopy or coherence tomography of the anterior segment of the eye should be performed.

Thus, if lens damage is suspected, diagnostic tests include:

  • Visual examination in transmitted light.
  • Biomicroscopy - examination with a slit lamp.
  • Gonioscopy is a visual examination of the anterior chamber angle with a slit lamp using a gonioscope.
  • Ultrasound diagnostics, including ultrasound biomicroscopy.
  • Optical coherence tomography of the anterior segment of the eye.
  • Pachymetry of the anterior chamber with assessment of chamber depth.
  • Tonography, for detailed identification of the amount of production and outflow of aqueous humor.

Lens diseases

  • Cataract.
  • Anomalies of lens development (lens coloboma, lenticonus, lentiglobus, aphakia).
  • Traumatic ectopia of the lens (subluxation, luxation).

Treatment of lens diseases

Surgical methods are usually chosen to treat lens diseases.

Many drops offered by the pharmacy chain, designed to stop the clouding of the lens, cannot return its original transparency or guarantee the cessation of further clouding. Only surgery to remove a cataract (cloudy lens) and replace it with an intraocular lens is considered a procedure with complete recovery.

Cataract removal can be done in several ways, from extracapsular extraction, which involves suturing the cornea, to phacoemulsification, which involves making minimal, self-sealing incisions. The choice of removal method largely depends on the degree of maturity of the cataract (density of opacities), the condition of the ligamentous apparatus and, most importantly, on the qualifications of the ophthalmic surgeon.