A Prechop Technique Using a Reverse Chopper

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To describe a manual prechop technique for splitting the nucleus of the lens using a recently developed reverse chopper. Methods: During the process, the reverse chopper and the Nagahara chopper are placed diagonally in the peripheral area of the nucleus of the lens after capsulorhexis. The reverse chopper and the Nagahara chopper then are pushed horizontally toward each other so they meet at the center of the lens to split the nucleus of lens into 2 parts. Results: In all cases, the reverse chopper was effective during the prechop procedure for hard nuclei, the nucleus of the lens remained in situ during the chopping process, and the reverse chopper did not retract the suspensory ligament in patients in whom the ligament was fragile. During the prechop procedure, no capsule breakage occurred, and the time and energy required for effective phacoemulsification were reduced significantly. Conclusions: The prechop technique using the reverse chopper can be applied for cases with grade III–V nuclei, overripe nuclei, and fragile suspensory ligaments. The procedure is simple, and the learning curve is not steep.

Keywords::

• cataract
• overripe
• nuclei
• split
• prechop

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

AUTHORS CONTRIBUTION

Yang Zhao: Designer and inventor of the surgical technique.

Jiaxin Li: Statistical analysis.

Ke Yang: Article writing.

Siquan Zhu: To practice and improve the surgical technique.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51573103, 51273113).