Most of the videos on this site are taken through the operating microscope. This gives the view of exactly what the surgeon sees during the procedure. But when you are learning cataract surgery it also helps to see the position of the hands and the instruments during surgery.
This video shows a brief clip of the external view of a phaco chop procedure during cataract surgery. We can see the hand positioning including the way that both hands are coupled to the patient’s head by resting the ring and pinky fingers on the patient’s cheek and face. This is important for stability and to allow the surgeon to stay in control if there is head movement by the patient.
We can also see that the phaco tip is embedded into the lens hemi-nucleus with just a burst of power and then the high vacuum level is used to hold it. The hemi-nuclear piece is then brought up and a space is created for placement of the chopper. The equator of the lens fragment is hooked by the chopper and then the chop is completed, splitting the cataract piece into two halves, one of which is immediately emulsified and aspirated.
This video shows phaco chop both at regular speed and at half-speed to facilitate learning the subtleties of the technique.
Click below to learn from this external view of phaco chop:
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