Cataracts Specialist

Who gets cataracts disease?

The probability of having cataracts increases with age although it has been associated with:

• Eye injury
• Prolonged inflammation or sun exposure
• The use of certain medications
• Systemic diseases such as diabetes
• Smoking

What are the symptoms of cataracts?

The natural lens is situated behind the iris, (the colored part of the eye) focusing the light from the cornea onto the retina where the information is transferred through the optic nerve to the brain in the form of images.

Initially, patients may not experience any symptoms, but cataract progression leads to a reduction in visual quality such as:

• Blurry vision
• Glare or poor vision with bright lights
• Halos around lights
• Decreased night vision
• Double vision
• Frequent changes in eyeglass prescriptions

What happens if I have cataracts?

Diagnosis – Your doctor will perform a series tests in order to diagnosis a cataract including a vision test and dilated (large pupil) eye exam to view the lens and other parts of the eye. 

Treatment – When visual symptoms begin to impair your ability to perform everyday activities including reading, writing, watching television you may consider cataract surgery to restore your vision. Cataract surgery is the most common surgical procedure performed in the United States with minimal risk of complications and over 95 percent success rate. 

Cataract surgery – Cataract surgery is a minimally invasive, sutureless procedure that progresses as follows:

• Placement of numbing medications onto the eye
• Creation of small incisions into the clear part of the eye or cornea
• The lens is then broken up or emulsified using high-frequency ultrasonic energy probe into tiny pieces that are suctioned from the eye.
• Once the cataract is removed, a new artificial lens or IOL (intraocular lens), is placed into the eye through the same incision used by the probe.

Most recently, femtosecond laser, the same laser technology used in LASIK, has been integrated into cataract surgery allowing for more precise surgery. 

How invasive is cataracts surgery?

Cataract surgery is same-day procedure in which the patient goes home following surgery. (A family member or other designated driver is required to take the patient home.) The procedure is painless for most patients and usually takes less than 15 minutes to perform. A shield may be applied to the eye following surgery and several drops will be prescribed to aid in the healing process and reduce the chance of infection. Discomfort, tearing, sensitivity to light, and itching can occur after surgery, but are usually mild and short lived.

Your Surgical Options:

• Monofocal or single-vision intraocular lens (IOL) helps patients see at distance necessitating glasses for reading
• Toric or astigmatism correcting IOL reduces astigmatism (oval shape of cornea) usually reducing or eliminating the need for glasses at distance
• Multifocal IOL allow for a full range of vision correction from near to intermediate and far distances eliminating the need for glasses or contact lenses altogether
• Femtolaser cataract surgery assists in the creation of the initial surgical incisions in the cornea, the creation of a capsulotomy, and the initial fragmentation of the lens. Femto laser technology reduces the average time and energy required to break up and remove the lens by about 50%. It results in very precise lens positioning making cataract surgery safer and more effective.  Our center uses the Catalys system created by Abbot Medical Optics.
• Limbal relaxing incisions are incisions made in the peripheral cornea to aid in the correction of astigmatism with or without the use of the femtosecond laser

We are proud that our practice is at the forefront of this technology.