Nystagmus is a highly complex condition that has been treated in Russia with considerable success in recent years. The only way to help patients effectively is surgery on the extraocular muscles, and this forms the starting point of treatment.
The operation allows nystagmus-related eye movements to be blocked when the gaze is directed straight ahead.
In Russia, the surgical treatment of nystagmus is led by Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the AMTS RF and Director of Crystal Vision, Igor Erikovich Aznauryan.
He developed and introduced into clinical practice the approach of high-technology radio wave surgery combined with mathematical modelling principles for oculomotor disorders.
Surgical precision depends not only on the mathematical calculation of the procedure itself — that calculation must be preceded by accurate diagnostics.
Our ophthalmic surgeons now have at their disposal a device that is essential for planning nystagmus surgery: the Gazelab nystagmograph — the only instrument in Russia and the CIS for examining patients with nystagmus.
Using this device, we can determine the frequency and amplitude of nystagmus and identify the eye position at which nystagmus is reduced.
In 78% of cases we are able to fully compensate for nystagmus in the straight-ahead direction of gaze, achieving significant improvement in visual function and a lasting treatment outcome. "Blade-free" technologies are used to minimise trauma to ocular tissue while preserving blood vessels and neural elements.
We have developed a highly effective surgical technique for various forms of nystagmus, enabling us to fully block or significantly reduce the frequency of oscillatory eye movements when looking straight ahead, and to substantially improve visual function. These results are a source of great pride to us and represent a major step forward.
To date, this remains the only effective means of helping patients with nystagmus. The nystagmus operations performed by our ophthalmic surgeons are unique.
Nystagmus operations are entirely safe, and their effectiveness has been proven over time. We apply 4 types of surgery depending on the form of nystagmus. Surgery is one stage of the comprehensive treatment of nystagmus — but by no means the only one.
High degrees of astigmatism, hyperopia and myopia in patients with nystagmus can be corrected using excimer laser correction, making it possible to eliminate the need for optical correction entirely — which is often either impractical in patients with ocular torticollis (as in the case of spectacle correction) or potentially inconvenient or hazardous (as in the case of contact lenses).
Until recently, the presence of pathological nystagmus was considered a contraindication to refractive surgery, due to the difficulty of centring the eye during the procedure.
However, the LaserCorr laser correction centre in Moscow has developed and implemented the capability to perform surgery in patients with nystagmus under general anaesthesia, during which all oscillatory movements cease. Thanks to eye-tracker technology in the laser system and the customisation function — which allows the procedure to be performed precisely according to the individual parameters of the patient's cornea — laser correction can be carried out under anaesthesia without requiring the patient to consciously fixate on a point in the laser, as is required in conventional laser correction.
