Enucleation

Enucleation or evisceration of an eye:

When oculists suggest that the eye should be removed, patients always worry about the details of such surgery and its effects on their look.
The eye can be enucleated owing to:

• Blindness and pain
• Malignant Tumors
• Severe injuries

Enucleation only takes place when eye treatments have no effect or if they are inappropiate or undesirable. The final decision is made by the ophtalmologist after a number of appointments and considerations.

The patient is admitted a day before the operation so as to check the patient´s health as the operation requires general anaesthesia. The patient will be asleep during the operation, which takes an hour.

Before the operation the patient is required to sign a consentment for the operation. Enucleation is just the removal of the eyeball.

Eyelids, eyebrows and the skin surrounding the eye will remain intact. The eye ball is removed by incision, keeping the conjunctiva and detaching the eyeball muscles while the optic nerve is eviscerated.

An implant, such as a tiny plastic ball, an hydroxypatite ball or a Medpor ball can be stiched inside the eye socket. Muscles are rejoined around this implant, then this is covered with the conjunctiva, stiching the socket and giving it more volume and a pinkish appearance.

When this is finished, a shaper is placed. This shaper is a sheet of transparent PMMA, which is placed under the eyelids. The PMMA sheet shapes the eye socket and prevents it from closing up when the wound is healing The operated eye is covered with a pad and bandaged up for at least 48 hours. During this time, if the patient tries to open the eye which has not been operated he may go through an unpleasant sensation as his vision will be blurred.

The patch is placed to reduce the swelling of the tissues in the socket. When anaestesia wears off, patients may feel pain in the socket or discomfort which are relieved with painkillers. When the patch is removed, the eyelids will be cleansed.