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Ophthalmic Images
July 13, 2017

Man With Femtosecond Laser Starfish Bubbles

Author Affiliations
  • 1Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
JAMA Ophthalmol. 2017;135(7):e171423. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2017.1423

A man in his 60s had his right eye operated on for cataract using the femtosecond cataract surgery laser platform. During the laser-assisted cataract surgery, cavitation bubbles were produced during nucleus fragmentation, which were arranged radially, resembling the shape of a starfish (Figure). The femtosecond laser separates tissue by the process of photodisruption, creating a series of microscopic bubbles due to the production of intralenticular gas. After making an opening in the anterior capsule of the lens, softening the nucleus and placing 6 fault lines in it for subsequent separation of the nucleus during phacoemulsification are features of femtocataract surgery that may help surgeons reduce the amount of ultrasonography energy they need to use in the eye.

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