Hydro-dissection and hydro-delineation are critically important steps of cataract surgery since they allow us to carefully preserve the capsular bag while removing the nucleus and cortex. The following videos focus on these important steps and we provide helpful pearls for learning the techniques.
This video shows precisely how much force is needed for safe and efficient hydro-dissection. I encourage you to try match the force by using a 3cc syringe and a 27g cannula and injecting outside of the eye. See if your stream closely mimics mine.
Hydro-delineation can help to separate the epi-nuclear shell from the denser nucleus. This is my preferred technique when the cataract has a dense endo-nucleus.
Cortical cleaving hydro-dissection is a technique that even helps to separate the cortex from the capsular bag, thereby minimizing the need for separate cortex removal with the IA probe.
Professor Uday Devgan MD is a Los Angeles Cataract Surgeon who authors CataractCoach.com to teach the best techniques of Cataract Surgery to Eye Surgeons from around the world.
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