Not sure if you're ready for surgery? Here are some of the conditions that might help you make your decision:
- You feel a loss of independence. Perhaps you need help going up and down stairs, or into shops or restaurants, for fear of stumbling, falling, or bumping into things. Glare (from the sun during the day or from headlights at night) might prevent you from driving.
- You can't or don't want to wear glasses or contact lenses.
- Even with eyeglasses or contacts, your vision isn't good enough for you to meet your responsibilities at work, at home, or in the community.
- Vision problems due to cataracts are diminishing your quality of life. If you're an avid reader, photographer, bridge player, or bicyclist, for example, your cataracts might make these pursuits difficult or impossible, or less enjoyable than they could be. They can even be dangerous, if your interests run toward sports and the outdoors: skiing, bicycling, hiking, sailing, and so forth.
Medical factors affecting the timing of cataract surgery include:
- the complexity of surgery and recovery. In general, the longer you wait after cataracts start to bother you, the more complicated the surgery and the longer the recovery.
- health problems, including those affecting your eyes. Cataract surgery is a simple procedure (at least from the patient's perspective) that takes only a few minutes. Still, it's best to have surgery when you are in good health.
The fact is, the many benefits of cataract removal and lens replacement greatly outweigh the slight risks. New techniques make the procedure quick and painless; you can have surgery first thing in the morning and be home in time for lunch.
Within a few days you can be back at work, already enjoying your clear vision and your independence. You might not need eyeglasses at all, and you can continue to do the things that improve your quality of life. There are benefits for the rest of the population as well. One study has shown that, among people who have cataracts, those who have had cataract surgery are 50 percent less likely to be involved in a car accident while driving.
The Basics of Cataract Surgery
Because virtually everyone eventually develops cataracts, and because cataract surgery is so safe and effective, it is the most common surgical procedure in the United States. Advances in cataract surgery have made the procedure so efficient it can be done in ten to fifteen minutes or less. Recovery is rapid and you might notice dramatic improvements in your vision within a day or two, though the clarity will fluctuate while your eye is healing.
Your doctor will probably operate on one eye at a time, typically doing the procedures a week apart. This way the doctor can make sure that the first eye is healing properly and that there is no infection. The risk of infection is under 1 percent, but if the eye does get infected, your vision could be damaged.
The surgery consists of removing most of the clouded natural lens and replacing it with a clear synthetic lens.
Types of Cataract Surgery
Your doctor will probably remove the clouded lens using pbacoemulsification, a modem form of extracapsular cataract surgery, so called because it leaves much of the lens capsule in place to support the new lens and help with healing. To find out more, you can check out Types Of Eye Surgery To Correct Vision.