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Cataract Surgery
What is a cataract
A cataract is the lens inside your eye slowly going cloudy. This makes your vision dimmer and can make colours appear washed out. It can affect your distance and reading vision, although often affects your distance vision more. It is one of the most common causes of visual loss, especially in the elderly.
How are cataracts treated?
Fortunately surgery can restore your vision by replacing the cloudy lens with a plastic lens, usually under local anaesthetic. Most patients get home the same day and will notice an improvement immediately.
Another happy cataract patient with Dan, immediately after the surgery (with kind permission of the patient). Most patients find that the reality of cataract surgery is not nearly as bad as they expect and Dan does everything he can to make the procedure as comfortable, relaxing and painless as possible.
When should I have cataract surgery?
This is a decision that only you can make, guided by advice from your optician and surgeon. Once Dan has looked at your eyes he will recommend what is best for you, weighing up the risks and benefits of surgery and explaining it all carefully to you. In general terms, if your vision is stopping you from doing day to day activities such as driving or watching television, surgery is likely to be help.
What happens on the day of surgery?
If you decide to proceed with cataract surgery, you will be pre-assessed to ensure that you are generally fit and well for the operation. You will be offered a date for surgery, which can be arranged to suit your schedule.
A full eye examination will be performed by Dan before discussing options for surgery
On the day of surgery it is helpful if someone comes with you to drive and get you home afterwards. You will be greeted by Dan and the nursing staff who will admit you and then put drops in your eyes to dilate your pupils so that the cataract is easily accessible. This takes about an hour. The anaesthetist will also come and meet you to explain how the local anaesthetic is administered.
It is perfectly normal to be nervous and the staff will do everything they can to put you at your ease, as you can see from the comments made by previous patients.
You are then taken through to the anaesthetic room where the anaesthetist will make your eye numb and then on into the operating theatre for the surgery, which takes about 20 minutes. Afterwards a pad is put on your eye and you are taken back out for a very welcome tea or coffee. You are able to go home as soon as you and the staff are happy that it is safe to do so.
You are asked to take the pad off your eye the following morning, give your eye a clean and then put drops in your eyes for a month in total. During this time you will have a direct phone number to contact Dan if you need to. After a month you will be asked to see your optician to check your new glasses prescription and then Dan will see you back in the clinic to check your eye and answer any other questions you may have.
Why pay to have cataracts removed?
This is a very personal decision as private surgery is expensive. The key benefits of paying for cataract surgery are that Dan will personally perform the surgery, not a junior surgeon, you will not have to wait long for the operation and it will be performed in the pleasant environment of a private hospital with a high staff to patient ratio.
You may want to discuss the option of going privately with your friends and family. There will never be any pressure from Dan or his team for you to commit to surgery, you can take as long as you like to decide.
What are Premium Lenses?
After cataract surgery you will normally still require glasses for reading or to correct astigmatism. However it is possible to get rid of the need for glasses altogether, using either a premium toric monofocal lens to correct astigmatism or a multifocal lens to reduce the need for reading glasses.
If you are interested in a premium lens please let Dan know at your first consultation as not everyone is suitable for these premium lenses and further tests will need to be carried out.
What is Refractive Lens Surgery?
If you are short-sighted, long-sighted, astigmatic or just fed up with reading glasses, clear lens replacement surgery is an alternative treatment to laser eye surgery and is often the treatment of choice for patients over 40 years old who wish to be spectacle free. Dan is more than happy to assess your suitability for this type of surgery and explain the risk and benefits.
Can cataracts recur?
Once your new lens is in place they stay there for the rest of your life and do not need to be changed. Occasionally the capsular bag the new plastic lens sits in becomes cloudy, requiring a simple laser treatment to clear it in the clinic. If you have clear lens replacement surgery you will never require cataract surgery because the natural lens has already been replaced.
What is YAG laser treatment?
This is the name for the type of laser used to clear the capsular bag as mentioned above. It is a painless procedure performed in clinic. 20-50% of patients will need this treatment within 5 years of cataract surgery and Dan is more than happy to arrange this for you.
What are the risks of surgery?
Your safety is our primary concern and everything possible is done to reduce the risks of cataract surgery. However there are risks with any operation and it is important you are fully informed before you decide on surgery and sign the consent form.
The bottom line risk for cataract surgery is a 1 in 1000 chance of permanently reduced vision. Fortunately this means that this complication is very rare, and would be usually due to infection or a bleed in the eye.
There are other potential complications which do not usually result in visual loss but may mean that the eye takes longer to heal, sometimes also requiring further surgery. These include posterior capsular rupture, retinal detachment, raised intraocular pressure, cystoid macular oedema and retained lens matter.
You will be individually assessed to see whether you are at greater risk of complications and what sort of outcome you can expect, allowing you to make an informed decision whether to proceed. This is especially important if you have other eye conditions such as glaucoma or macular degeneration.
Dan audits all his surgical results and his benchmark posterior capsular rupture rate in 2019 was 0.3%, significantly better than the national average of 1.4%.