Imagine viewing the entire day through a blurry window.
That’s how it feels to live with cataracts, an eye disease that causes cloudiness on the eye’s natural lens, blurring and impairing a person’s vision.
It is common for people to start getting cataracts around the age of 40. Often, they won’t see symptoms until after age 60. If projections are correct, about 50 million Americans will develop cataracts over the next 30 years or so.
Many people live with cataracts for some time before needing surgery. A consultation with an experienced eye specialist helps people decide the right time for cataract surgery. For people with cataracts, surgery usually becomes imminent. When that happens, surgery restores vision loss and possibly reduces a person’s dependence on wearing glasses or contacts.
How to Know If Cataract Surgery Is the Best Choice
The individual patient’s need and expectations will largely dictate whether someone is a good candidate for cataract surgery. As with any surgery, it’s best to get the facts and understand the procedure before scheduling eye surgery.
After a thorough eye examination and tests, an eye specialist reviews all the options with patients, along with the benefits, risks, and costs of the recommended procedure to help patients make the best choice.
Can You Get Rid of Cataracts Without Surgery?
It’s not possible to get rid of cataracts without surgery. The best defense against cataracts is prevention. Ophthalmologists recommend patients wear sunglasses and hats to block the sun. They should also visit their eye doctors regularly. It also helps to quit smoking and eat lots of fruits and dark leafy greens.
What Are the Cataract Surgery Success Rates?
Cataract surgeries have very high success rates at about 99%, and complications are rare.
Patients may experience mild complications like corneal swelling or inflammation in the eyes.
While cataract surgeries are highly successful, problems can occur. Things that can impact re-operative measurements are dry eyes, corneal scarring, retina issues, diabetes, macular degeneration, or LASIK surgery. These issues can affect the outcome of surgery.
What Are the Types of Cataracts Surgery?
There are four types of cataract surgery:
1. Phacoemulsification cataract surgery
During this type of surgery, the ophthalmologist uses an ultrasonic probe to remove the cloudy lens and replace it with a foldable intraocular lens implant that unfolds once it’s in place. Phacoemulsification cataract surgery is the most common type of surgery.
2. Extracapsular cataract surgery
During this procedure, the ophthalmologist removes the eye’s natural lens leaving a part of the posterior lens capsule in place. The surgeon then implants an artificial intraocular lens (IOL) to restore the patient’s vision. This procedure doesn’t require making a major incision.
3. Intracapsular cataract surgery
In this type of procedure, the ophthalmologist removes the eye’s natural lens along with the entire eye lens capsule before replacing it with an IOL. The rate of risks and complications is higher with this type of surgery than with others, making it the least common type of cataract surgery.
4. Laser cataract surgery
The cataract laser is the most recent breakthrough in cataracts surgery. In this type of surgery, a camera with an ultrasound imaging device gets placed over the eye.
The device maps the eye’s surface, gathering intensely detailed information about the lens, and sends it to a computer. The computer uses an algorithm to program the laser showing the surgeon the exact location, size, and depth of the incisions. The ultrasound probe then breaks the lens and removes the pieces from the eye to prepare the eye for the new lens. It is a bladeless, customized procedure that doesn’t require stitches.
What to Expect with Cataracts Surgery Recovery
Cataract surgeries are low risk, effective, and fast.
Patients go home the same day of the surgery, although they’ll need someone to drive them home. The anesthesia wears off within a few hours after surgery, and it may take a few days for patients to have clear vision. Ophthalmologists recommend patients wear an eye shield off and on for a day or a few days after the surgery.
Some patients experience grittiness, watering, blurred vision, double vision, or bloodshot eyes in the days following surgery. These symptoms improve within a few days and should improve within 4-6 weeks.
The eyes should be completely healed within six weeks. Patients may need to order new glasses at that time.
Most patients report greatly improved eyesight after cataracts surgery, enabling them to drive and do other activities they couldn’t do before the surgery.
How Long is Cataracts Surgery Recovery Time?
Recovery times differ based on the type of cataracts surgery. Laser-assisted surgeries cause less trauma to the eye, making recovery faster and easier than traditional cataracts surgeries, where patients experience more discomfort. With laser-assisted surgery, patients can typically go home within 30-60 minutes after the procedure.
What Are the Options for Cataracts Surgery Lenses?
One of the critical decisions that eye patients need to decide is which type of lens will be used in the surgery. There are four types of cataracts surgery lenses.
1. Monofocal IOLs
Monofocal lenses get their name because they have one focusing distance. These lenses are set for the eyes to focus on close work, medium-range, or distance. Many people opt to have the lenses set for clear distance, which is best for driving, and they choose to use eyeglasses for reading and close work. Monofocal IOLs aren’t suitable for people with astigmatism.
2. Toric IOLs
People with astigmatism may do better with toric IOLs than monofocal IOLs. Astigmatism is a condition where the eye focuses in different in various directions (for example, horizontally or vertically). Toric IOLs have different focusing powers that help to balance the eye’s astigmatism.
3. Multifocal IOLs
A multifocal lens is designed with different zones to provide distance and near focus simultaneously. The benefit of this type of lens is patients can see in the distance or use a computer without needing eyeglasses. The downside to this type of lens is that it splits light between seeing far and close, which means patients don’t benefit from 100% light for either distance. Only 5-10% of patients tolerate IOL multifocal lenses.
4. Monovision IOLs
In this surgery, ophthalmologists implant one eye with a monofocal IOL that focuses on distance, and they implant a monofocal IOL that focuses on near vision in the other eye. As a result, one eye sees distance better, and the other sees close vision better. These lenses can decrease the dependency on reading or computer glasses.
Some people have difficulty adapting to monovision lenses. Patients considering monovision IOLs may want to try monovision contact lenses before cataract surgery to see if they can tolerate them.
What are the Cataracts Surgery Success Rates?
Cataract surgeries have very high success rates at about 99%, and complications are rare.
Patients may experience mild complications like corneal swelling or inflammation in the eyes.
While cataracts surgeries are highly successful, problems can occur. Pre-operative measurements can be affected by dry eyes, corneal scarring, retina issues, diabetes, macular degeneration, or LASIK surgery which can affect the outcome of surgery.
What You Need to Know About Secondary Cataracts Surgery
Secondary cataracts, sometimes called after cataracts, is a condition that happens after cataracts surgery – often months after surgery. The medical term for secondary cataracts is posterior capsular opacification.
After surgery, protein sometimes accumulates on the eye’s posterior lens capsule causing blurry vision, poor eyesight, or light glares.
Secondary cataracts can be removed in a subsequent surgery called YAG laser capsulotomy. The surgery can be performed on an outpatient basis which only takes about 5 minutes. In secondary cataracts surgery, the ophthalmologist uses a laser to create a small opening in the clouded membrane allowing light to pass through to clarify the vision. The surgery doesn’t disrupt the artificial lens. Patients go home the same day. Most patients report their vision improves almost immediately and gets better in the following days.
What Are the Costs Associated with Cataract Surgery?
The cost of cataract surgery depends on the type of lens that will be used in the surgery. As for the total out-of-pocket costs, Medicare or private health insurance will likely pay some of the costs less the policy deductible and any copays.
The average cost of a standard cataract surgery performed in a clinic or surgical center is about $2,700 for one eye and $5,200 for both eyes.
Laser-assisted surgeries can cost more than traditional cataract surgeries, and health insurance providers don’t always cover them.
Patients with Medicare insurance can expect to pay $700, which corresponds to a 20% copay. This fee is the same for all types of cataract surgeries.
Cataracts Should Not Go Untreated
The effects of cataracts come on gradually, worsening an individual’s sight over time. Many people find they can minimize the effects of cataracts by wearing eyeglasses or sunglasses and still see fairly well for months or years before needing surgery.
Eventually, cataracts will affect an individual’s ability to drive and perform everyday activities, negatively impacting their quality of life. Those who leave cataracts untreated will eventually risk total blindness.
Eye specialists perform thorough eye examinations to detect cataracts and other harmful eye diseases. They provide comprehensive consultations to help patients understand their test results, condition, options for cataracts surgery and lenses, recovery, and outlook.
Cataracts surgery is effective, low-risk, and safe. It’s also reasonably affordable for most people. The benefits of cataract surgery far outweigh the minor risks.
USHA-WB3-1221