General practitioners' awareness of different techniques of cataract surgery: implications for quality of care

Abstract

With the introduction of fundholding, general practitioners can now purchase treatment from theprovider of their choice. To obtain the best treatment for their patients they need to keep abreast of new developments in a large range of specialties. The past decade has seen profound changes in ophthalmology, particularly in cataract surgery. Extracapsular cataract extraction and phacoemulsification have largely superseded intracapsular cataract extraction, mainly because of the higher risk of sight threatening complications with intracapsular extraction.1,2 Although extracapsular surgery is now the most commonly used method in the United Kingdom, 2%-4% of ophthalmologists routinely perform intracapsular surgery3,4 and 1% do not routinely use intraocular …