FEATURE EWAP SEPTEMBER 2022 7 by Chiles Aedam R. Samaniego APACRS LIM Lecture recap: Cataract in China In his 2022 APACRS LIM Lecture, “Cataract in China: My Cataract Surgery Journey from Couching to FLACS,” Yao Ke, MD, Eye Center, Second Affiliated ospital of <heiang 1niversity School of Medicine, Zhejiang University Eye ospital, compared cataract surgery to the Chinese myth of Kuafu, running after the sun: “Our pursuit of light has never stopped, and cataract surgery in hina has always been on the road of swift development.” Dr. Yao conteÝtualiâed his own eÝperience and practicep which has culminated in efforts to eliminate cataract blindness across hinapin the history of cataract surgery in the country, from couching, the earliest form practiced in the country and introduced from India through the Silk Road in Ó0È B , to femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery FLA S®. ouching, he said, was the pride of hina for thousands of years before reaching its peak when hairman Mao <edong himself received couching to treat cataract in £Çx. Dr. Yao himself performed couching early in his career, during his residency in the £Ç0s. owever, as an “ancient procedure,” he said, the procedure had “many defects” and so gradually faded from the stage of history in China in the £0s. Dr. Yao also subseµuently practiced intracapsular cataract eÝtraction I E® from £ÇÇ Watch Dr. Yao’s 2022 APACRS LIM Lecture in full at [https://apacrs.org/34thapacrs.asp.]. to £nx. Later, following the mainstreaming of IOLs which reµuire the preservation of the posterior capsule, he switched to eÝtracapsular cataract eÝtraction E E® and, more recently, conventional phacoemulsification surgery P S®. In the interest of keeping cataract surgery in China at the cutting edge, Dr. Yao’s practice is currently very interested in FLACS; in addition to having performed more than 4,000 cases by Ó0Ó£, Dr. Yao and his colleagues have been deeply involved in studying the procedure’s efficacy and safety since Ó0£4. e brieyy went through the 15 studies they have published to date on the procedure. But perhaps the crowning achievement of Dr. Yao’s career thus far is the establishment of “Automobile Eye ospitals” in £È. Dr. Yao’s mobile eye hospitals have “traveled to snow-covered plateaus and vast deserts” to provide thousands of free cataract surgeries to the poor. In addition to providing completely free cataract surgery, they have established £x eye clinics in remote parts of hina, training local surgeonspsimultaneously “feeding them with fish and teaching them to fish at the same time,” Dr. Yao said. The automobile hospital, he said, has been running for Óx yearspand will continue to run for as long as patients need it. Dr. Yao and his team are committed to eliminating cataract blindness and, to achieve this, promoting the development of cataract surgery on into the future, together with their colleagues across the region, and the world. EWAP
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