Seeing the human body up close is vital for a surgeon - and doctors at Epworth HealthCare in Victoria are now seeing clearer than ever.
A new state-of-the-art Zeiss microscope is part of the surgery toolkit at Epworth Richmond, one of the first hospitals in Australia to have one.
The highly-advanced microscope, purchased thanks to Epworth's generous donors, is providing surgeons with greater magnified vision to perform ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery, urology, and plastic surgeries.
ENT otolaryngologist Dr Amanda Richards said the Zeiss microscope was particularly important when treating a patient's voice box.
"The voice box itself is a tiny organ," she said.
"Often, the growth I need to remove from a patient's voice box is only one or two millimetres in size, and despite this it can cause the patient significant problems."
Dr Richards said the microscope had brilliant optics and was easy to move around, helping her to complete a surgery as smoothly as possible.
"I am able to get a super-high-definition picture," she said.
"I can move the microscope around with great ease, zooming the picture in and out to give myself the perfect angle to see the voice box.
"I can magnify the vocal folds to a point where I am able to make tiny movements that in fact look huge on the screen. In reality, they are the smallest of movements.
"There's no doubt that is the most finessed microscope I have access to and I absolutely love it."
She said the donations which funded the microscope would be life-changing for her patients.
"I'm really grateful to our donors that have enabled the purchase of this new microscope," Dr Richards said.
"Your generosity means the world to us and our patients."
