VISCOELASTIC MATERIALS – AN INDISPENSABLE INSTRUMENT IN OPHTHALMOLOGICAL SURGERY

Abstract

Viscoelastic materials are medical devices used as adjuncts in ophthalmic surgery. The article reviews the main molecules that simultaneously fulfil the properties of viscosity and elasticity that make them eligible for intraoperative use as well as the types of eye surgery in which these materials prove to be a tool of real value in the hands of the operator. The use of these devices has facilitated the development of surgical techniques, at the same time achieving the protection of ocular structures and considerably reducing the rate of intra- and postoperative complications. There is no single agent that fulfils all the necessary properties in each of the operative techniques and times.

Keywords

• viscoelastic devices
• ocular surgery
• cohesive
• dispersive