​Enucleation And Evisceration - Part 1

Enucleation or evisceration is nothing but eye removal surgery and is done in cases like eye cancer, severe eye injury or painful blind eye. There are two types of eye removal surgery. The first one is enucleation and the second one is evisceration.

Enucleation is done to remove the entire eye. The muscles responsible for eye movement are left as it is and are attached with the artificial eye ball. Evisceration is done to remove the cornea and other eye contents. During this procedure, the white part of eye and the eye muscles are not taken out. The implant is then attached with the scleral shell. This procedure generally takes less time with compared to the other procedure. But this procedure is not suitable for all patients and enucleation is usually preferred for patients with cancer, truma or eye infection.

Things to expect during eye removal surgery:

Before the surgery, inform your surgeon of all the medicines that you are taking and ask him whether you can continue taking them. Usually medicines, except blood thinners are continuously taken. One must always keep in mind that physical activity such as swimming is not advised for 2-3 weeks after the surgery is performed. Usually it takes two months for healing. After the healing, prosthesis is done. Prosthesis is a large contact lens and is put over the implant in the eye. This is done by an ocularist.