Cataract Surgery FAQs
Can eye drops prevent or dissolve cataracts?
No — The Food and Drug Administration has not approved any drops that cure or delay cataracts. Some such products claim they can prevent cataracts, but cataract formation is a natural part of the eye's aging process. Other products claim they can "dissolve" cataracts. But since cataracts are not a "substance" on the lens, there is nothing for the drops to dissolve. There is no "cure" for catarcts other than surgical removal and replacement with an artificial lens (IOL).
Do close-up tasks like reading or sewing make cataracts worse?
No — Cataracts are not caused by how people use their eyes. However, cataracts likely become more noticeable during close work. One sign of a cataract is the need for more light to do the same activities well.
Are cataracts reversible?
No — The lens naturally clouds as it ages. This process is unavoidable. However, its progress can be slowed by quitting smoking, eating a balanced diet, and wearing sunglasses with 100% UVA and UVB protection.
Can cataracts "grow back?"
No — Cataracts develop as the lens's cells die and accumulate; they are not a "growth" that sits on top of the eye. Occasionally patients do develop a different, secondary cataract. When the membrane that holds the new lens implant becomes cloudy, vision can be compromised. But this can easily be treated with a quick and painless laser procedure.
Is cataract surgery scary or painful?
It is perfectly normal to be apprehensive before any unfamiliar experience. All this information about cataracts and surgery may seem odd or a little frightening to you. That's okay because we are here to walk you through it and make everything as simple and smooth as possible.
Our patients most often report that their surgery was remarkably pleasant, and that pain was not even a consideration.
At Southern Arizona Ophthalmology, we promise to be attentive to your needs and well-being and will do everything possible to make sure you are completely comfortable throughout the entire procedure.
Is cataract surgery dangerous, and recovery takes months?
No — Cataract surgery is one of the safest and most highly perfected surgical procedures in medicine, with a 95% success rate. Of course, as with any surgery, risks do exist and should be discussed with your eye doctor before the procedure. Most activities may be resumed the day after surgery. Cataract patients often notice vision improvement immediately following surgery, and others will notice more gradual improvement for a few months afterward.
Do both eyes have cataract surgery at the same time?
No — Cataract surgery is best performed on one eye at a time, to enable you to use one eye while the other is healing.
How long do lens implants last?
Assuming your eye is normal and healthy, the intraocular lens implant should last your entire lifetime. Lens implants are not known to "wear out."
What are the risks of cataract surgery?
Cataract surgery is one of the most successful of all surgeries. But just as it can be risky to cross an empty street, as with any surgery, there are some risks involved. The only way to avoid all risk is to do nothing.
Complications are possible during or after cataract surgery even with the most excellent care. Those complications most commonly seen are associated with unusual eye anatomy (very long or very short eyes), certain inherited eye diseases, and prior trauma. Such complications include bleeding, infection, glaucoma, corneal clouding, swelling of the center of the retina, retinal detachment, decreased vision, or in exceptionally rare cases, loss of the eye itself. While it is impossible to predict in which patients these complications will occur, the risk of these complications is very small.
There are times when a cataract can be removed successfully but vision is not improved — because of other conditions or diseases of the eye. One such disease is macular degeneration, where the central part of the retina is damaged. Occasionally, macular degeneration cannot be diagnosed prior to the cataract removal because the presence of the cataract itself may prevent seeing the macula in sufficient detail. It is sometimes only after the cataract is removed that macular degeneration is diagnosed.
In addition, other pre-existing conditions of the eye can limit vision after cataract surgery, such as diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma. All such pre-existing conditions limit the eye's ability to regain normal vision, even if the cataract surgery itself is a huge success.
What is the recovery time?
Not so long ago, cataract surgery involved making an incision large enough to remove the clouded lens in one piece. Patients often stayed at the hospital overnight or even for several days. With the aid of new technologies, cataract surgery is now an outpatient procedure with a significantly shorter recovery time. You should expect to be at the surgical facility for just a few hours.
The day following your surgery, you will have an office appointment to ensure that you are healing properly. You might see quite clearly almost immediately after the surgery but most likely your vision will be blurred initially. Every patient is an individual and heals differently. Over the following weeks, visual clarity progressively improves, and after one month, the eye is typically healed. Follow-up visits are usually scheduled for the day after surgery, week after surgery, and then one month after surgery. During this time you will be using eye drops to help the eye to heal and to prevent infection.
Will cataract surgery impact on my activities?
Your sight will usually improve within a few days, although complete healing may take several months. It is a good idea to have some help at home if you can, especially if you find it difficult to put your eye drops in.
For the first week following cataract surgery, we ask you to avoid any and all heavy lifting or bending over that brings your head below your waist. After that, and for the month following surgery, you can resume most of your normal activities, but minimize lifting, bending, and straining. Carrying reasonably lightweight objects, such as a purse or a small bag of groceries, is fine.
You will also be asked to avoid getting water in the operated eye for one week, which includes avoiding swimming. Water that is normally safe for showering and drinking has bacteria in it, and this can possibly cause an infection where the incision was made in your eye.
You don't need to stay indoors, but try to avoid being out in the wind, as something might blow in your eye.
Will I see better after cataract surgery?
Well over 95% of cataract surgeries improve a patient's vision. If having a cataract is the only cause of your decreased vision, removing it will improve clarity. If you have an additional problem (such as macular degeneration, prior uveitis, retinal detachment, diabetic retinopathy, or glaucoma), a determination will be made by your ophthalmologist as to which issue needs to be addressed, and when. Cataract surgery can be successfully carried out even in the setting of most of these other eye conditions.
Will I need glasses after cataract surgery?
Most patients still wear glasses at least some of the time after cataract surgery.
Once a cataract has been removed, light can once again pass undistorted through the cornea and the newly implanted artificial lens, to the retina in the back of the eye. However, you may still be required to wear glasses to see more clearly because the incoming light needs to be focused directly on the retina. If your eye cannot do so on its own, eyeglasses will be needed to provide that focus.
In addition, the implanted artificial lens cannot change shape for close vision the way a natural, youthful lens does. A natural lens accommodates, or changes shape, to bring objects into focus at distance, or close up. The intraocular lens implant provides clearest vision at a single focal distance, with the great majority implanted to correct for distance vision. This means that an eye focused for distance will have sharpest vision for activities such as driving, but you would still require bifocal lenses or reading glasses in order to see clearly at close range.