General Information About Cataract Surgery

First to understand the cataract surgery, patients need to know what a cataract actually is. A cataract is a condition in which vision becomes cloudy, blurry, perhaps opacification of the eye lens. This causes patients to have decreased vision that can interfere with even day to day activities. 

Once the patient and the doctor determine that cataract surgery will be performed, questions on what the procedure entails and the rate of success are usually at the forefront of the patient’s mind. Understanding what happens during the procedure itself is very helpful.

During the surgery, the ophthalmologist will remove the cloudy lens and, in most cases, replace it with an artificial permanent lens implant. 

The first thing that will be done is having an ultrasound on the eyes to get precise measurements for the lens replacements. This generally happens a week before the procedure so that it is guaranteed the new replacement lenses to be available at the time of surgery.

The surgery itself will take an hour or less to complete under normal circumstances. The ophthalmologist will use one of two procedures in order to complete the surgery. Typically a simple phacoemulsification is all that is needed to remove the clouded lens. This procedure leaves most of the back layer of the lens.

The other procedure that may be needed if the lens cannot be broken up from phacoemulsification is called extracapsular cataract extraction. This is only used in more advanced stages of cataract disease.  In either case, one procedure does not take any longer than the other.

After the clouded lens is removed, the permanent lens replacement (intraocular lens or IOL) is implanted into the eye. Post operatively, the patient is advised not to do any heavy lifting for a period of time determined by the doctor while the eye incisions are healing. 

Having a basic understanding of this simple and very common outpatient surgery helps patients determine the best course for their eye health. The ophthalmologist can answer very specific questions a patient may have regarding the procedure. 

After the procedure has been completed and the postoperative instructions followed, 90% of patients enjoy a quality of vision that may even make the need for corrective lenses unnecessary.