Your eyes are one of the fastest healing parts of your body and cataract surgery has advanced to a point most cataract surgeries are quick and done with topical or local anesthesia. If you are just starting your journey into cataract surgery and eye, we suggest learning more about the techniques that are commonly used today by a cataract surgeon. You probably are a little anxious about eye surgery but eye surgery is more successful than ever these days.
Refractive Lens Exchange
This is the process of replacing the natural lens with an artificial intraocular lens implant (IOL). While cataract surgery involves the process of removing something for the eye, a cataract in this case, Lens Exchange puts a new lens in to correct vision. Think of it as taking out an old lens that has lost its original ability and being replaced with a new working part. The exchange can be done for near or far-sightedness but is used primarily for improving near or reading vision. Best of all, the IOL will won’t cloud over time. So, unless you require cataract surgery again in the future (which is rare), you’ll never need another lens exchange.
Clear-corneal (“no-stitch”) cataract surgery
Can you believe cataract surgery once involved hospital admission and complicated post-surgical orders? Furthermore, the removal of the cataract required stitches to be used. Luckily for surgical candidates today, quicker healing times and no stitches have improved outcomes.
No-Stitch methods include dissolving and removing the cataract by a cataract surgeon through the use of ultrasound through a small incision. After the cataract is removed, a foldable IOL is inserted in the space the cataract used to occupy. The small incision is less than 2.2 millimeters and will heal on its own, hence no stitches.
Multifocal and accommodating implants
Once the cataract is removed, a new lens will need to go into its place. Dr. Shatz will go over the options with you. One option is the accommodating IOL. The reason it is called “accommodating” is that the lens is not held in one rigid place. Instead, the legs of the lens are flexible so that it can move slightly forward when the ciliary muscle of the eye is contracted. This is how your eyes adjust their vision from far to near and back. The flexibility of the accommodating IOL installed by your cataract surgeon provides better near vision than other lenses.
Patients in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation and Weston have a choice of where to go in their search for a cataract surgeon but surgery for the eyes should not be taken lightly. A well-rounded approach to finding the best cataract surgeon will provide peace of mind and bring back the quality of life you deserve.
