How technology can improve ophthalmology surgical decisions

In the office, the patient´s ophthalmologic symptoms need to be converted into objective and reliable problems, to reach an accurate diagnosis and to propose adequate treatment.
The optical transparency of the different eye structures (cornea, lens, aqueous and vitreous humor) allows us to perform a virtual journey inside the eye, capturing images and data from anterior to posterior chamber, in a micrometer scale, using different kinds of technologies and light between blue and infrared spectrum. The constant advances of technology, software and image acquisition equipment has played an essential role in diagnosis and treatment.
With systematic “scanning” of all our patients with non-invasive exams it is possible to obtain detailed follow up information and to discover asymptomatic problems, often in an early stage of the disease. Therefore, we are able to anticipate corneal decompensation after implant of intraocular lens in anterior chamber, to prevent acute close angle crisis, to avoid visual distortion associated with epiretinal membranes or to prevent central vision lost in macula lamellar holes or in peripherical retinal detachment.
Showing what our eyes cannot see, technology helps us to detect vitreous tractions or epiretinal membrane epicenters or to study malformations in optic disc, influencing surgical approaches.
As the eye is the masterpiece, surgery must be a restoration art. We must rely on technology to “see better”, diagnose, treat, prevent and predict, with the lowest error rate. We are also preparing the future for computerized medicine and giving small steps to artificial intelligence.