Cataract Surgery
Modern lens surgery, planned around the vision you actually use.
Overview
A cataract is the natural lens inside the eye gradually becoming cloudy. It is not a growth and it is not an emergency. It becomes worth treating at the point where it starts to limit what you do — driving at night, reading, recognising faces, or seeing colours as clearly as you once did.
Modern cataract surgery does two things at once: it removes the cloudiness and it corrects your focus. Through an opening of around two millimetres, the cloudy lens is softened with ultrasound, removed, and replaced with a clear implant. Which implant depends on precise measurements of your eye and, just as importantly, on how you spend your days.
When to seek assessment
- Vision that has become misty, dull or washed out
- Glare and starbursts around headlights at night
- Needing a new glasses prescription more often than before
- Colours looking yellowed or faded
- Needing brighter light to read comfortably
- Double vision in one eye, even with the other closed
Diagnosis
How the assessment is made
Precision measurements
The length and curvature of your eye are measured to within microns, and the implant power calculated using several modern formulas — the single greatest influence on how well you see afterwards.
Corneal mapping
A map of the front surface of the eye shows how much astigmatism is present and whether a premium implant will deliver what it promises in your eye specifically.
Retinal scan
The retina is examined before surgery is offered. A cataract can hide changes at the macula, and finding them beforehand means expectations are set honestly.
Tear film check
Dryness is treated before measurements are taken. An unstable tear film distorts the readings, and is the commonest reason a lens power turns out slightly off.
Treatment
Options and what each one is for
Standard (monofocal) lenses
Focused for distance, giving the sharpest, most contrast-rich vision available, with reading glasses for close work. Still the right choice for a great many eyes.
Astigmatism-correcting (toric) lenses
For eyes whose cornea is shaped more like a rugby ball than a football, correcting that shape within the same operation for clearer unaided vision.
Reading-range (multifocal) lenses
Designs that share light between distances to reduce dependence on glasses. Offered only where the shape of your cornea and the health of your retina support the result.
Complex and previous-laser eyes
Eyes that have had LASIK before, or that have a dense cataract, a small pupil or a weakened lens support, are planned individually with the appropriate techniques.
Recovery
What to expect afterwards
The day itself
Fifteen to twenty minutes per eye, awake but comfortable with anaesthetic drops. You go home the same day, with a clear shield for the first night.
First week
Useful vision usually returns within a day or two. Drops are used on a reducing schedule; avoid rubbing the eye, swimming and dusty environments.
Weeks two to six
Vision settles fully. Any final glasses prescription — usually for reading — is issued at around four to six weeks.
Questions
Frequently asked
If your question is not answered here, it is welcome in consultation — or by message before you book.
No. The eye is numbed with drops and you stay awake but comfortable. Most people describe a sense of pressure and moving lights rather than pain.