Cataract surgery is a safe and effective outpatient procedure, typically lasting less than 30 minutes. After your doctor has performed the operation, make sure that someone will drive you home from hospital afterwards.

The macula, located at the center of your retina, provides you with central vision and allows you to clearly perceive fine details and colors.

Swelling of the macula

Cataract surgery involves your eye surgeon making an incision on the surface of your eye to insert a lens implant. Although cataract surgery tends to be safe and relatively painless, complications may arise as with any surgical procedure.

After cataract surgery, it’s essential to consult an eye doctor if you experience macular oedema. This condition occurs when blood vessels in the retina begin leaking fluid and cause the macula to swell; symptoms include blurry or wavy central vision and colours appearing “washed out”. Macular oedema isn’t painful but can significantly diminish quality of vision and can even result in permanent damage to central vision if left untreated.

Scarring of the capsule that holds your new artificial lens, which can lead to blurred vision similar to what caused your cataract in the first place, is another potential complication of cataract surgery and should be treated quickly using laser YAG capsulotomy therapy.

Lens implants may dislodge from your eye’s iris or pupil in certain circumstances, including when surgery was not completed correctly or an infection arises; high eye pressure; retina diseases including diabetic retinopathy and uveitis can all play a part in dislodging them as well.

Cataract surgery is an effective solution to cataracts, and can be completed outpatient. Recovery times from cataract surgery typically are short; however, you may require assistance if your eye doctor has suggested stitches in both eyes.

If cataracts are impacting your quality of life, now may be the time to discuss surgery with an eye specialist. At Ridgeview Eye Clinics we offer comprehensive eye care at both our Arlington and Le Sueur campuses – give us a call now to discover more!

Increased eye pressure

At cataract surgery, doctors replace your natural lens that’s cloudy with an artificial one to refract (bend backward) the light rays entering your eye, helping you see more clearly. While optimal vision health is crucial, post-op vision may fluctuate. If it appears unclear or hazy initially, this likely stems from swelling settling down over time and should clear up in due course.

After cataract surgery, your eyes must rest and heal properly; to do this safely it is essential not to touch them directly or bend over. Instead, wear an eye shield to shield from debris and use eye drops to assist the healing process – they should feel better within a week of recovery!

Cataract surgery is a relatively safe and straightforward procedure performed outpatient, in either a doctor’s office or surgery center, lasting less than 30 minutes from start to finish. The process is virtually pain-free with an excellent success rate.

Your eye doctor will start by giving you anesthetic eye drops and then using injections to numb your eye, before creating a circular opening in the thin film that covers your front eye (capsulotomy) using ultrasound energy to break down old lens fragments into small pieces that can then be suctioned out using suction devices.

A surgeon then inserts the replacement lens, which may either be standard or multifocal. Multifocal lenses provide distance, intermediate, and near vision correction without the need for eyeglasses; however, some individuals still require glasses for reading fine print or driving.

Eye pressure may increase after cataract surgery, creating a serious medical concern. The increased pressure is caused by fluid leakage from lens capsule, with sudden spikes in IOP, corneal edema and cells on your eye surface as symptoms.

Although not as prevalent, cataract surgery can also result in high intraocular pressure (IOP). If this happens to you, it’s essential to notify your physician as soon as possible so they can address it accordingly.

Infection

Under cataract surgery, your surgeon makes a tiny incision in your cornea and inserts an ultrasonic instrument called phacoemulsification to break up the center of the cloudy lens using ultrasound waves. This procedure, known as phacoemulsification (fak-oh-emul-sih-KAY-shun), allows them to safely remove it without harming the delicate back of your eye. Once extracted, an intraocular lens implant or IOL will then be implanted which helps focus light onto retina for improved vision – after being examined thoroughly by their eye doctor they will select their ideal IOL to suit their own specific eye care.

Cataract surgery is generally safe; however, there may be certain risks. Some risks related to anesthesia during surgery and others associated with its completion.

One rare but serious side effect of cataract surgery is an infection in the eye, which must be addressed immediately as this could result in blindness if untreated quickly. Most infections postcataract surgery occur through bacteria entering through an incision during surgery itself; modern cataract surgeries now include injecting antibiotics directly into the eye to kill any potential bacteria present, drastically reducing postcataract infection rates.

Complications associated with cataract surgery may include high eye pressure. This could be related to either surgery itself, or another condition like glaucoma; in either case, your doctor can prescribe drops to lower it if necessary.

Drooping of the eyelid may occur following surgery or injection of anesthesia behind the eye, with or without lid speculum in place during procedure. Although most eyelid droops self-correct, if that doesn’t happen you should contact an oculoplastic surgeon for correction of their condition.

As part of cataract surgery, your surgeon may use a scleral buckle to assist the healing of your eye. While this may be uncomfortable at first, taking Tylenol should help alleviate discomfort. Some people also experience an uncomfortable sensation after surgery which will go away over time; after several days your eyes should become more comfortable and your vision should improve accordingly.

Retained lens fragments

On occasion, a piece of your cataract may move into either your eye’s drainage system (known as an angle) or behind your iris and cause inflammation or increased eye pressure. Most often, however, this lens fragment simply disappears naturally over time; but if they continue causing problems for you or are causing inflammation or increased pressure then surgery to remove them may be required – typically this process only takes minutes!

Complications associated with cataract surgery were once more frequent; however, modern procedures using smaller incisions has reduced its frequency significantly. If your cornea does not align properly or your muscles are damaged by injection anesthesia, your vision may be temporarily impaired following the surgery; this usually improves over time.

Sometimes during cataract surgery, the posterior capsule can rupture allowing your intraocular lens to be placed outside the capsular bag or even front of the iris instead of within it. This complication is more likely if you suffer from certain diseases that weakened and fragiled your capsule, making it more floppy and delicate than usual. Should this happen it is essential that a retina specialist be seen immediately; symptoms include severe eye pain, light sensitivity and gradual decreases in vision.

Retained lens fragments pose the greatest risk to eye health: Proliferative vitreoretinopathy can lead to retinal detachment and subsequent vision loss2.

Decisions on surgical intervention depend on factors like size of residual nucleus, degree of inflammation and presence of any other fragments lurking behind the iris. Vitectomy should ideally take place within a week after cataract surgery to accelerate visual recovery and break the cycle of progression of inflammation; however most studies have not identified any difference in outcomes between early and late intervention3.-4