An operation performed in the treatment of cataracts (see under EYE, DISORDERS OF), in which the anterior lens capsule of the EYE is torn open with a needle, allowing the aqueous ?uid to dissolve the opaque soft lens matter, which is gradually washed away into the bloodstream. This ‘extra-capsular extraction’ may need to be repeated several times before all the opaque lens matter disperses. Although a relatively simple procedure, it is unsuitable for patients over the age of 35 (when the nucleus of the lens becomes increasingly hard), and CRYOSURGERY and LASER therapy have become the preferred methods of treatment.
Needling is also used for certain minor dermatological procedures, such as removal of small facial cysts and scabies mites.
n. the use of a sharp needle to make a hole in the lens capsule, usually to deal with the haze developing in the posterior capsule after cataract. This technique has now largely been replaced by use of the *YAG laser.
A traditional Chinese method of healing by inserting thin needles into certain areas beneath the skin and rotating them. Its rationale is that disease is a manifestation of a disturbance of Yin and Yang energy in the body, and that acupuncture brings this energy back into balance by what is described as ‘the judicious stimulation or depression of the ?ow of energy in the various meridians’. What is still unclear to western doctors is why needling, which is the essence of acupuncture, should have the e?ect it is claimed to have. One theory is that the technique stimulates deep sensory nerves, promoting the production of pain-relieving ENDORPHINS. Of its e?cacy in skilled hands, however, there can be no question, and in China the technique is an alternative to anaesthesia for some operations. Acupuncture is increasingly used in the west, by medically quali?ed doctors as well as other practitioners of complementary medicine. As long as proper sterilisation procedures are followed, the treatment is safe: two recent and extensive UK studies detected no serious adverse effects.... acupuncture
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