What Is Phacoemulsification?

Phacoemulsification refers to the process of making two (or more than two) immiscible solutions mixed uniformly under the action of ultrasonic energy to form a dispersion system, in which one liquid is evenly distributed in the other liquid to form an emulsion.

Phacoemulsification refers to the process of making two (or more than two) immiscible solutions mixed uniformly to form a dispersion system under the action of ultrasonic energy. One liquid is evenly distributed in the other liquid to form an emulsion.

Chinese name: Phacoemulsification
Foreign name: ultrasonic emulsification

Industrial applications: Pharmaceutical industry
Indication: Congenital cataracts of all ages.
Medical applications: Treatment of cataract

Principle of phacoemulsification

The physical mechanism of crushing insoluble solids (or liquids) is considered to be ultrasonic cavitation. The ultrasonic cavitation effect means that under the action of strong ultrasonic waves, a large number of bubbles will be generated in the liquid. Small bubbles will gradually grow and increase with ultrasonic vibration, and then suddenly burst and split. The split bubbles continue to grow and burst. . When these small bubbles collapsed rapidly, high temperature and high pressure were generated in the bubbles, and strong local shock waves were generated in the liquid near the bubbles because the liquid around the bubbles rushed into the bubbles at high speed, and local high temperature and pressure were also formed, which resulted Ultrasonic crushing and emulsification.

Applications in the field of phacoemulsification

In the pharmaceutical industry and daily necessities industry, phacoemulsification is often used in the manufacture of various emulsion products, such as emulsion drugs, cosmetics and leather shoe polish. The emulsified combustion products of oil (gasoline, diesel, etc.) and water or pulverized coal can also be made by phacoemulsification to increase the combustion value of unit fuel.

This technology has now begun to be used in a limited range with obvious economic benefits. In order to reduce costs and adapt to large-scale production, mechanical ultrasonic transducers such as reed whistle are mostly used in phacoemulsification. For difficult-to-emulsify liquids or for other special considerations, piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers are sometimes used in conjunction with appropriate sound focusing systems to increase sound intensity.

Applications in the field of phacoemulsification

Phacoemulsification for cataract

Using a phacoemulsifier, through a corneal or scleral incision of 3-5 mm in size, the nucleus of the lens is crushed with ultrasound to make it chyle-shaped and then sucked out together with the cortex. After the operation, the posterior capsule of the lens is retained and the posterior chamber intraocular lens can be implanted at the same time.

Compared with traditional cataract surgery, phacoemulsification has better surgical effect and has become the most advanced and reliable cataract treatment method currently recognized internationally.

Characteristics of phacoemulsification

Better vision recovery and lighter postoperative response.
Postoperative astigmatism is small, and it is more conducive to correcting or controlling postoperative astigmatism.
The operation time is short, the incision is small, and the pain is light; the light damage to the retina is reduced, and surface anesthesia can be considered in conditional cases.
The surgical trauma is small and the postoperative recovery is fast; the postoperative medication dose is small and the time is short; the chance of iris injury during operation is reduced, and the scar of conjunctiva and sclera is reduced.
Better surgical control, increased safety, and reduced complications; easy maintenance of deep anterior chambers during surgery, reduced chance of posterior capsule injury, and residual cortex; intraocular lens implantation is safer and more reliable; closed surgery allows better vitreous pressure , Once the complications occur, the treatment is safer and the control is good; the incidence of complications such as macular edema is reduced.
There is no need to wait for the cataract to mature before the operation can be performed, which avoids the inconvenience and pain of the long waiting process and improves the quality of life.

Indications for phacoemulsification

1. Congenital cataracts of all ages.

2. Crystal dislocation and subluxation.

3. Those with opaque crystals and vision below 0.3, including corrected vision.

4. Traumatic cataract.

5. High myopia with cataract.

6. Cataracts due to inflammation must be controlled for more than six months.

7, cataract with glaucoma, intraocular pressure control can be combined with surgery.

8. Regardless of the eyesight, as long as the patient has high requirements for vision, or has special occupational requirements.

Pre- phacoemulsification precautions

1. If you have high blood pressure, diabetes or cough, you should ask a physician to diagnose and treat it, and then perform cataract surgery after the condition is stable.

2. Do personal hygiene (shampooing and bathing) one day before the operation.

3. Please clean your face on the day of the operation. Do not use any cosmetics.

4. If you have taken internal medicine such as hypertension, diabetes or cough, please continue to take it before, after and on the same day.

5. Eat a small amount before surgery.

6, family must be accompanied on the day of surgery.

Precautions after phacoemulsification

1. Eye drops should be dripped on time as directed by the doctor.

2. Don't sleep on the side of the eye. Don't lower your head excessively within two weeks, and don't participate in large-scale exercise.

3. The vehicle is stable and safe when going out.

4. After the cataract surgery, the patient may not be able to adapt to the strong light at the beginning, but also avoid dust. You can wear sunglasses to block the strong light and dust.

5. Try not to rub your eyes or bump your eyes and head.

6. Do not drink alcohol or spicy food within a short period of time after surgery. Wash your hair and bath within one week, and avoid getting dirty water into your eyes when washing your face (dirty water refers to all liquids except eye drops).

New Vision Ophthalmology Hospital adopts internationally leading phacoemulsification combined with intraocular lens implantation for the treatment of cataracts. The chief surgical physician personally performs a small incision and a short time (6-7 minutes can be completed). Only local anesthesia is required and the postoperative reaction is light , Fast recovery, the eye mask can be removed the next day after surgery to resume normal life.

Advantages of phacoemulsification

The average droplet size of the emulsion formed by ultrasonic emulsification is small, which can be 0.2-2um; the droplet size distribution range is narrow, which can be 01-10um or narrower. ^[1]
Ultrasonic milk concentration is high, pure emulsion concentration can exceed 30%, and emulsifier can be up to 70%.
The emulsion formed is more stable. An important feature of phacoemulsification is that it can produce extremely stable emulsion without or with less emulsifier.
The type of emulsion can be controlled. Using phacoemulsification, under certain sound field conditions, both O / W (oil-in-water) and W / O (water-in-oil) emulsions can be prepared; however, this is not possible with mechanical emulsification methods, only the properties of emulsifiers In order to control the type of emulsion.
Toluene is emulsified in water to form one type of emulsion under low sound intensity conditions, while another type of emulsion may be formed under high sound intensity conditions.
Ultrasonic emulsification requires less power to produce dregs.

Use range of phacoemulsification

Phacoemulsification has been used in a variety of fields and plays a unique role in each field.

There have been many industrialized applications of phacoemulsification. Phacoemulsification is the earliest technology used in food processing. Such as soft drinks, ketchup, mayonnaise, jam, artificial milk, baby food, chocolate, salad oil, syrup, and other mixed foods used in the food industry, have been tested and adopted at home and abroad, and have improved The effect of product quality and production efficiency, and the aqueous carotene emulsification has been successfully tested and used in production.

The banana peel powder is pretreated by ultrasonic dispersion combined with high-pressure cooking physical modification, and then the banana peel powder is hydrolyzed by amylase. A single-factor test was used to study the effect of this pretreatment on the extraction rate of soluble dietary fiber in banana peel and the physicochemical properties of insoluble dietary fiber in banana peel. The results show that ultrasonic dispersion combined with high-pressure cooking treatment is simpler than that without pretreatment. The insoluble dietary fiber obtained by the enzyme treatment has an improved water holding capacity of 5.05 g / g, a combined hydraulic power of 4.66 g / g, an oil holding capacity of 4.60 g / g, and a swelling property of 0.4 mL / g.

Effects of phacoemulsification

Phacoemulsification has been widely developed and popularized in China, and it has become the mainstream method for cataract surgery. Cataract phacoemulsification has developed rapidly in various aspects such as surgical techniques, surgical instruments, and performance of phacoemulsifiers. Especially in terms of the performance of the phacoemulsifier, it is mainly the improvement of the energy release mode.