About Cataract Surgery
Cataract surgery is a common procedure for those over the age of 60. The term “cataract” simply refers to a human lens that is partly or completely cloudy. It is such a common problem that there are more than three million operations for cataract removal in the United States each year. At Mackool Eye Surgery, we have extensive experience in cataract removal. In fact, we perform the vast majority of our surgeries on site at the Mackool Eye Institute, which was the first ambulatory surgery center in New York.
How do you know whether you need cataract surgery? It all depends on your symptoms. Surgery is usually performed when the patient is no longer satisfied with his/her vision. The cause for the dissatisfaction can be blurry vision, difficulty reading, problems with glare or seeing street signs, poor night vision, difficulty seeing traffic signals, or trouble judging distances when driving.
What happens during cataract surgery?
During cataract surgery, the entire lens (with the exception of the lens capsule) is removed. Of course, removal of the cloudy lens creates the need for a replacement lens. This replacement is called an intraocular lens implant.
During intraocular lens implementation, the cataract is removed and an artificial lens is placed within the eye. Implants are made of either a hard plastic or soft foldable material. Both of these types of lenses provide excellent vision and differ mainly in the incision size required for their insertion into the eye at the time of cataract surgery. The decision as to which implant is the best for an individual patient is determined by rather complex factors such as the strength of the implant required and the amount of astigmatism present.
Multifocal and other lens implants
Lens implants are tiny devices that can be implanted within the eye to correct near or farsightedness. One type of these highly effective implants has a multifocal design that can provide excellent vision for far as well as near activities such as reading, usually eliminating the need for bifocal or progressive eyeglasses.
The success rate with multifocal lens implants is extremely high; more than 95% of patients we have performed this procedure on now have excellent distance and reading vision without the need for glasses. Correction of vision is accomplished by removing the human lens and replacing it with the multifocal lens. Therefore, patients who have their own lens exchanged for a multifocal lens implant will never have to undergo cataract surgery later in life. In addition, because changes in the human lens are the cause of vision changes over the years, the removal of the human lens prevents that from happening. The ability to see without glasses after multifocal lens implantation is therefore permanent. It should be noted that the insertion of a multifocal lens does not prevent the future development of unrelated conditions such as glaucoma and macular degeneration.
Another type of lens implant can be inserted into the eye to correct either near or farsightedness. These implants are often used for patients who have corneas that would be excessively steepened, flattened, or thinned if laser eye surgery were performed. These types of lenses are called “phakic” implants. They are usually used for patients under 40 years of age who do not yet require reading glasses or bifocals. The normal lens is not removed at the time of phakic lens implantation.
Lens implants may occasionally cause complications such as irritation or dislocation. We have successfully performed corrective surgery on thousands of these eyes as well.