Development of "EYES": A Simulator to Experience Cataract and ICL Surgery

Abstract: In Japan, more than 1 million cataract surgeries were performed in 2009, mainly for elderly persons. Moreover, ICL (Implantable Contact Lens) surgery is getting popular among the young. One of the authors’ mother had cataract surgery in 2015. When the author asked her about the experience during the surgery, the author was told that it was painless because of the anesthesia and that the surgery was completed in about 15 minutes.However, in the summer of 2022, the author underwent surgery on both eyes. The author's experience as a patient was different from what he had get from his mother. During the surgery, visual information continued to enter the brain through the optic nerve, and at the same time, auditory information entered the brain through the ears, such as the doctor's instructions to change the patient's posture and the progress of the surgery, filling the patient's consciousness with this combined information. Although this was the same as the explanation given by the doctor during the preoperative informed consent, the author could not imagine in advance what kind of visual and auditory information the patient would receive and how he would feel during the approximately 15 minutes of the surgery.As a result, although there was no pain during the surgery, the visual information was uninterrupted, and the patient felt very scared and overloaded. After the patch over my eye was removed the day after the surgery, everything seemed brighter than before, so the author felt very happy to take that surgery. However, the author would like to inform the visual and auditory information experienced during the surgery to patients who are ready for operation using simulator. Therefore, we started to develop “EYES” which generate visual and audio information using VR goggles and headphones. In the paper, we will describe the system overview of EYES, and we will demonstrate the system at poster and demonstration session.

Keywords: Cataract Surgery Simulator, Serious Game, Simulator for Patients

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1004386

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