EyeWorld Asia-Pacific June 2013 Issue

3 EWAP June 2013 Letter from the Editor Dear Friends F emtosecond cataract surgery is increasingly becoming accepted as a worthwhile addition to traditional phacoemulsification. The improvement in outcomes, however, is incremental, and discussions on the merits of the procedure will continue. These issues are canvassed in this month’s edition of EyeWorld Asia-Pacific . I would also like to draw your attention to another article in this edition discussing whether extracapsular cataract surgery is still necessary. For many years, residents beginning cataract surgery were initially taught extracapsular cataract surgery before commencing phacoemulsification. In many centers in the world this is no longer practiced and it is not unusual for a trainee to leave the program skilled in phacoemulsification but never having had the opportunity to perform extracapsular cataract surgery. Unfortunately, this reduces the opportunity to obtain a wider range of manual dexterity and skills including suturing so that procedures such as glaucoma surgery and keratoplasty become more challenging. One wonders whether a similar phenomenon may occur with increasing acceptance of femtosecond cataract surgery and whether the next generation of surgeons will be as adept in performing manual capsulorhexis and even manual phaco fracture techniques. Perhaps dealing with complicated cases where femtosecond surgery may not be appropriate will be limited to a smaller group of surgeons similar to the loss of expertise in manual extracapsular cataract surgery. Although progress is inevitable, I am personally pleased to have been part of the generation exposed to intracapsular and extracapsular phacoemulsification, and now femtosecond cataract surgery. Progress, however, is inevitable, and time will determine whether the improvement in safety and efficacy of femtosecond cataract surgery is such that it will replace manual phacoemulsification as the preferred method of cataract surgery in the future. I am sure you will enjoy the contents of this thought provoking issue of EyeWorld Asia-Pacific . Warmest regards Graham Barrett, MD Chief Medical Director EyeWorld Asia-Pacific • China • India • Korea EYEWORLD ASIA-PACIFIC EDITORIAL BOARD C HIEF MEDICAL EDITOR Graham BARRETT, Australia MEMBERS Abhay VASAVADA, India ANG Chong Lye, Singapore CHAN Wing Kwong, Singapore CHEE Soon Phaik, Singapore Choun-Ki JOO, Korea Hiroko BISSEN-MIYAJIMA, Japan ASIA-PACIFIC CHINA EDITION Editors-in-Chief ZHAO Jialiang ZHAO Kan Xing Deputy Editor HE Shouzhi Assistant Editor ZHOU Qi ASIA-PACIFIC INDIA EDITION Regional Managing Editor S. NATARAJAN ASIA-PACIFIC KOREA EDITION Regional Editor-in-Chief Hungwon TCHAH Regional Managing Editor Chul Young CHOI Hungwon TCHAH, Korea John CHANG, Hong Kong Johan HUTAURUK, Indonesia Kimiya SHIMIZU, Japan Pannet PANGPUTHIPONG, Thailand Prin ROJANAPONGPUN, Thailand Ronald YEOH, Singapore S. NATARAJAN, India YAO Ke, China Y.C. LEE, Malaysia