RESUMO
At the invitation of the director of The National Eye Center, Kaduna, Nigeria and The Makkah Eye Hospital of Khartoum, Sudan I visited both these institutions to teach phacoemulsification surgery to their aspiring surgeons on Visalis 100 (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Germany). This article highlights the experience of teaching phacoemulsification surgery in foreign African countries like Nigeria and Sudan. In Nigeria I had the opportunity to give training in both wet lab and live surgery settings whereas in Sudan only hands-on live surgery. Sudan being an Islamic nation pigs are not slaughtered there and hence no pig eyes. Goat eyes differ significantly from human eyes and hence have almost no value in wet lab teaching. The training program included theoretical discussions, wet lab, surgery and finally discussions related to the days' surgery. It became clear that quality of learning depends on three main factors. Thorough understanding of theory and observation of senior surgeons in operation room Good wet lab and finally doing the surgery oneself in step by step manner. Dedicated teachers and instructors can make all the difference. The learning curve also significantly shortens if the trainees are exposed to all types of cataract surgery like ECCE, SICS and phacoemulsification surgery. The main problem faced by those surgeons who have done only ECCE/SICS is that they are not used to handling microscope and instruments in both hands at the same time. Hence I strongly recommend them wet lab where they can sit and practice using both hands and feet and microscope simultaneously and in coordinated fashion.
