{"id":5744,"date":"2025-09-12T08:18:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/uncategorized\/yag-laser-at-stars"},"modified":"2025-09-12T09:45:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T23:45:22","slug":"yag-laser-at-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/news\/yag-laser-at-stars","title":{"rendered":"A new laser procedure at STARS has patients seeing better days"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-stretch fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:89.44rem;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column fusion-flex-align-self-stretch\" style=\"--awb-padding-top:20px;--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><h1>A new laser procedure at STARS has patients seeing better days<\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_5746\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5746\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5746 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/09\/dr-ashley-porter-p.jpg\" alt=\"STARS Staff Specialist Ophthalmology, Dr Ashley Porter with the YAG laser.\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/09\/dr-ashley-porter-p-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/09\/dr-ashley-porter-p-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/09\/dr-ashley-porter-p.jpg 400w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 400px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 400\/600;\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5746\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">STARS Staff Specialist Ophthalmology, Dr Ashley Porter with the YAG laser.<\/p><\/div>\n<h4>The introduction of the YAG laser at STARS will allow more patients across Metro North to have their vision restored.<\/h4>\n<p>For Staff Specialist Ophthalmology Dr Ashley Porter, the YAG laser is a wonderful addition to the ophthalmology services at STARS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt STARS, the YAG laser will treat a specific eye issue, posterior capsule opacification (PCO) that can occur following cataract surgery,\u201d Dr Porter said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis occurs when the membrane surrounding the artificial lens implanted during cataract surgery becomes cloudy or thickened, resulting in blurred vision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvidence suggests that around 6 per cent of patients undergoing cataract surgery will require this type of procedure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPreviously, the only other YAG laser in Metro North was located at the RBWH. As this laser is also used for urgent and\/or emergency sight-saving procedure, patients with PCO were experiencing long wait times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe introduction of the STARS YAG laser will increase access to this sight-restoring procedure. Vision is restored quickly with the procedure, and the results are permanent \u2013 the procedure doesn\u2019t need to be repeated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The YAG laser procedure is performed as a day clinic service with patients having a thorough assessment with an ophthalmologist beforehand.<\/p>\n<p>The arrival of the YAG laser completes the ophthalmology service\u2019s vision of becoming a centre for cataract excellence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSTARS is now a one-stop facility for the treatment of cataracts for Queenslanders, restoring vision and positively impacting quality of life for patients and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The introduction of the YAG laser at STARS will allow patients with posterior capsule opacification (PCO) to have their vision restored.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":5745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5744"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5749,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744\/revisions\/5749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/kilcoy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}