Are cataracts impairing your vision? Are you considering cataract surgery to reclaim your eyesight?
Once cataracts begin affecting your ability to drive, read, or complete everyday activities, cataract surgery is the only treatment that can restore your vision. This makes it one of the most commonly performed procedures in the world, with millions undergoing cataract surgery every year.
Despite its popularity, it’s natural to wonder about the safety of any surgical procedure. Keep reading to learn more about whether cataract surgery is safe and how it could improve your vision.
What are Cataracts?
Cataracts are cloudy patches that form on the natural lens of the eye. A healthy lens is clear, allowing light to filter correctly.
However, it’s common for the proteins that make up the lens to break down with age. These form into cloudy patches known as cataracts.
Patients older than 40 are at risk for developing cataracts. However, cataracts typically form slowly over time, and most people don’t notice symptoms until they are around 60 or older.
Common symptoms of cataracts include:
- Cloudy vision that feels like you’re looking through a foggy window
- Double vision
- Light sensitivity
- Trouble seeing at night
- Halos and glares around lights
- Yellowed, dulled, or faded vision
- Needing brighter light to read
While you may be able to lessen the effects of cataracts with glasses and contacts at first, they will continue to develop and impair your vision more. At that point, cataract surgery is the only treatment that can restore your eyesight.
How Does Cataract Surgery Work?
Cataract surgery works by removing the natural lens of the eye that has been clouded by cataracts and replacing it with an intraocular lens, or IOL. IOLs cannot develop cataracts, preventing them from recurring in the future.
Before undergoing cataract surgery, you will need to attend a consultation with your cataract surgeon at Frantz EyeCare. They will determine your candidacy for the procedure and help you choose the IOL that best suits your vision needs and lifestyle.
If you choose a premium IOL, you may achieve better vision than you had before cataract surgery, as well as visual freedom from glasses and contacts. Frantz EyeCare offers toric, PanOptix trifocal, Vivity, and Light Adjustable Lens premium IOLs.
How Safe is Cataract Surgery?
Cataract surgery is safe, quick, and minimally invasive. It only requires numbing eye drops instead of anesthesia and a small incision to remove the natural lens and replace it with an IOL.
This makes the procedure virtually painless. Cataract surgery also has a very high success rate for improving patients’ vision, at around 97%.
There are some potential side effects, but usually, these are minimal and clear up quickly. You may notice redness and watering in your eye within the first couple of days after the procedure.
Your vision will likely improve within the first one to three days after the procedure and continue improving as you heal. Full recovery takes around four to six weeks.
What Is Posterior Capsule Opacification?
While your IOL can’t develop cataracts, some patients develop a condition called posterior capsule opacification (PCO) after cataract surgery. This occurs when the back of the lens capsule clouds and causes vision problems.
Luckily, treating PCO is fairly simple. It requires a quick procedure by your ophthalmologist at Frantz EyeCare called YAG laser capsulotomy. They will use a specialized laser to make a small hole in your lens capsule, allowing light to pass through your IOL.
Schedule a Consultation Today
If cataracts make it harder to live your life, it could be time for cataract surgery. This treatment is highly effective, with minimal side effects for most patients.
Are you ready to discover whether cataract surgery could help restore your vision? Schedule a consultation at Frantz EyeCare in Fort Myers, FL, today!
