Cataract Surgery at Wills Eye

Peter Giannopoulos, MD watches James Lewis, MD perform phaco-chop cataract surgery using topical anesthesia at Wills Eye Surgery Center in Plymouth Meeting.

Friends reunite 20 years later

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. _ Victor Krzesinski, RN, director of Wills Eye Plymouth Meeting, welcomes Dr. Peter Giannopoulos at 7 AM to observe state-of-the-art cataract surgery.
Two years before, “Vic”, welcomed Dr. Lewis who began operating at the Wills facility soon after it opened.
Vic thought Dr. Lewis looked familiar. After surgery they remembered they had both worked in South Philadelphia at Methodist Hospital.
Lewis was still a Jefferson medical student and Vic was a staff nurse soon to rise to the top position in the operating room.
They recalled the Methodist cafeteria, the general surgeons, and other happy memories from twenty years ago.
“Once there was a medical student who paged a famous surgeon because that surgeon was late for a lecture! He caught serious grief!”. Jim Lewis was that medical student and didn’t know you weren’t allowed to do such things. “I am glad to see he hasn’t changed one bit”, Vic said.
“When I realized who Vic was, I felt like I had been working at Wills for decades. Vic treats everyone like they are special and as a result he has built an incredible surgical team”, Lewis said.
Patients report a feeling of warmth and professionalism when they visit Wills Plymouth Meeting. “There is no doubt, in my mind, that Vic sets the tone and everyone wants to follow. The surgeons and the community are fortunate to have access to very special people and a very special place”, Lewis said.

Dr. “G” (left) and Dr. Lewis (right) surround Victor Krzesinski, RN, director of nursing at the Wills Eye surgical facility

Wills Eye Equips Surgical Network for
Advanced Cataract Removal
Techniques

PHOENIXVILLE, Pa, _ American Ophthalmologists are praising the benefits of a new method of cataract removal developed in Japan.
Phaco-chop was launched when Dr. Kunihiro Nagahara won the 1993 ASCRS (American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons) film festival with a video of this ingenious surgical maneuver. He used the same ophthalmic instrumentation found at the Wills Eye Surgical Network.
Phaco-chop uses the cataract’s own structure to help the doctor reduce zonular stress. It increases surgical efficiency.
Before this major advance cataract surgery required ultrasonic energy to excavate and then divide and conquer the cataract.
Phaco-chop needs as little as one second’s worth of energy. Earlier methods required several minutes.
Experienced surgeons have migrated to phaco-chop. They get excellent results and an improved safety profile.
Phaco-chop is ideal for advanced and mature cataracts. Large incisions, sutures, and astigmatism are a thing of the past.
Wills Eye in Plymouth Meeting recently purchased two Allergan Sovereign phaco units. They were designed specifically for Dr. Nagahara’s method.
“There is a learning curve to phaco-chop just like all kinds of eye surgery. It may take several months to master the maneuver”, said Dr. James Lewis of Phoenixville. Dr. Lewis has been performing phaco-chop for nearly two years. He expects more and more surgeons to start learning the technique. “It will make them wonder why they did it any other way.”.