We offer personalised prevention, diagnostic and treatment pathways for vision problems and eye conditions, including those of a degenerative nature, in
children, adults and older people. Children visiting the clinic can benefit from an orthoptic appointment in addition to their ophthalmological consultation, where we examine and provide rehabilitation for eye muscle and sensory defects.
The main conditions we treat are:
- Cataracts
- Keratoconus
- Macular degeneration (exudative or wet, diabetic, age-related, or inflammatory)
- Retinopathy (degenerative, inflammatory and vascular, as well as retinopathies associated with conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
Refractive errors
- Hyperopia (long-sightedness)
- Astigmatism
- Myopia (short-sightedness, when objects far away look blurred)
- Presbyopia (difficulty focusing on objects up close)
Inflammation of the front and back of the eye
- Conjunctivitis (red or pink eye)
- Keratitis (inflammation of the cornea)
- Blepharitis (inflammation of the eyelids)
- Uveitis or iridocyclitis (inflammation of the uvea, the membrane between the sclera [white of the eye] and the retina)
- Dry eye syndrome
- Neuritis (inflammation of the optic nerve)
- Dacryocystitis (acute or chronic inflammation of the tear sac and tear duct)
Diagnostic procedures
During the ophthalmological consultation, your specialist
will take your history before carrying out a physical examination of your eyes. Depending on the type of condition you either have or are suspected of having, they will prescribe a number of specific examinations:
- a test for visual acuity (the ability to see things clearly)
- examination of the back of the eye
- a slit lamp examination
- tonometry (to measure the pressure inside your eye)
- identification and correction of vision motor and sensory disorders and rehabilitation of these, using
- OCT - Optical coherence tomography scan (OCT scan)
The OCT scan is a painless, non-invasive diagnostic examination that is similar to a CT scan of the eye. It is used to diagnose and monitor the progress of numerous conditions of the retina and cornea, such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and macular oedema of various origins. It is also an essential examination for preoperative diagnosis and post-procedure follow-up care.
Orthoptic Consultation
The orthoptic consultation is useful for the assessment and vision rehabilitation of changes in the eye’s neuromuscular system that can lead to:
- strabismus (a squint)
- binocular vision impairment
- convergence defects other than strabismus
- anisometropia (when the refractive error differs between the two eyes)
- amblyopia or lazy eye, a fairly common problem in children
- diplopia (double vision of an object from both eyes)
- nystagmus (abnormal, rapid and involuntary movement of the eyes)
- paralysis of the eye, usually as a result of injury, caused by lesions of one or more oculomotor nerves
Paediatric Ophthalmology Department
The ophthalmology outpatient clinic offers diagnostic and rehabilitation pathways for the most common childhood diseases (in children aged 0 to 14 years).
Virtual reality is used to correct vision abnormalities such as
amblyopia and
strabismus (convergence defect of the axis of one eye compared to the other). Our youngest patients love this therapy because it is very much like a video game. The games have been designed especially to manage and train visual abilities. The exercises make the lazy eye work more and the healthy one less, so that differences in visual acuity between the two eyes become smaller and smaller before evening out at the end of the rehabilitation period. The games for convergence defects, on the other hand, show a visual target that slowly moves towards the young patient’s face to correct and perfect the point of convergence of the eyes.
Surgery
Parasurgical therapies (alternative, minimally invasive surgery)
Parasurgical therapies use lasers. The main ones used are
The excimer laser, to treat:
- the anterior segment of the eye, for cataracts or corneal transplants
- the posterior segment, for retinal detachment, diabetic retinopathy and macular hole (opening at the centre of the macula, part of the retina)
The femtosecond laser, a cutting-edge technique used in refractive surgery to correct astigmatism, short-sightedness, long-sightedness and cataracts. The laser light beam allows high-precision treatment without incisions, with fewer surgical procedures inside the eye as a result.
The advantages of this treatment are:
- it is a painless, personalised procedure
- recovery times are shorter
- there is less trauma to the eye
Cross-linking treatment is a parasurgical technique involving no incisions or stitches. It stops keratoconus - a degenerative condition affecting the cornea - from getting worse. This treatment approach aims to strengthen the cornea thanks to the combination of riboflavin (vitamin B2) eye drops and ultraviolet laser light.
Surgical treatments
The following may be used in surgery to correct various eye defects:
- implantable collamer lenses (ICL), to correct short-sightedness, astigmatism and long-sightedness. A small incision is made and the lens is inserted into the eye with no stitches. This technique can be used for short-sightedness of over 8 dioptres, which cannot be corrected effectively with laser treatment. It is highly advantageous in that it keeps the crystalline lens intact
- high-tech contact lenses – IC-9, for the treatment of keratoconus, corneal lesions or lesions from previous refractive surgery
- EyeMax lenses, which help improve visual function in patients with macular degeneration. They are inserted into the eye to magnify the image and project it onto the peripheral macula instead of the damaged part
- corneal inserts or intrastromal implants, hard plastic rings implanted inside the cornea to strengthen it and restore the eye's ability to focus. This surgical solution can be used as an alternative to Cross-linking treatment.