Cataract Surgery including ReSTOR:

Cataract remained the most common cause of newly diagnosed blindness in the world in 2005. In America, cataract is the primary disease leading to visual complaints in our aging population. Any clouding, discoloration, or irregularity of the normally crystal-clear human lens is a cataract. These lens changes can lead to difficulty with near, distance, or intermediate focus.

Typically, the process is gradual. Clear vision may be restored in the early stages by new or different glasses or a contact lens prescription change. Family history, injury, some medications, diabetes, smoking, ultraviolet light exposure, and prior eye diseases are among the many factors that can accelerate the normal aging of the human lens and, therefore, to a more rapid decline in visual function. Eye pain, redness, floaters, watering, foreign body sensation, or mattering are rarely, if ever, caused by cataract.

Eventually, the cataract patient’s ability to cope with the tasks of daily living is hampered to an extent that surgical intervention is desirable. This year, nearly three million Americans will have their lenses surgically removed and replaced by artificial lenses. The implanted lens is individually selected to meet the optical and functional needs of each person.

Advanced technology implants can offer selected patients good vision at most distances, reducing the need for glasses after surgery. For additional details of the ReSTOR implant please check website www.acrysofrestor.com.

This out-patient procedure is successful in improving vision in 98% of all patients. Today’s technology has dramatically changed the surgery. Using an ultrasonic device, the ophthalmic surgeon carefully removes the cloudy lens from inside the eye in tiny fragments. The implant is then placed inside the clear living membrane that had surrounded the cataract. The incisions to allow this amazing operation are so small that stitches are usually not used.

These advances benefit the patient both during and after the operation. During surgery, sedation, along with drops and a numbing gel used a half hour before the start of surgery, offer nearly all patients complete comfort. After surgery, patients heal more quickly because of these techniques; allowing a return to all but strenuous activities immediately and a return to full activity in a week.

Post-operative maintenance is usually limited to drops to promote proper recovery. Many patients experience markedly improved vision in the first week. By the third checkup, in week four, drops are usually no longer necessary, and the patient can expect a return to a lifetime of better vision.

Article by Jack Hendershot, M.D.