When will I start to see cataract surgery results?
Interview transcription:
In an interview, Alex Shortt explains when someone should expect to see the results from cataract surgery.
Alex Shortt: With cataract surgery or lens exchange surgery, once we set up the focus of the eye and have the correct multi-focal lens implant in place and the right focus achieved, you should maintain that vision for the rest of your life. Now, there are a couple of caveats.
Very rarely, we see patients whose cornea changes shape a little bit over time. The patient may notice a slight difference in their vision, and if they do, then it’s entirely possible for us to correct that for them. If that happens, you see it soon after the surgery. Clinics do that for the patient at no additional cost.
Once we set up the focus of the eye and have the correct multi-focal lens implant in and the right focus achieved, you should maintain that vision for the rest of your life.
The second reason why your vision might change is to do with the ligament, which holds the lens implant in place. In about 10% of patients, this ligament reacts to the lens implant. It’s not an adverse reaction; it merely thickens a little. The patient feels like they’re getting a very slight mistiness of the vision, or their reading vision isn’t as good as it was straight after the operation. And if that happens, it’s a condition called posterior capsular opacification. It is incredibly common and occurs in 10% of cataract operations.
Posterior capsular opacification is incredibly common and occurs in 10% of cataract surgery outcomes
Very simply, the lens implant can be polished using a laser. It’s not an operation. It’s an outpatient procedure performed during your consultation. We polish the lens with a special laser, and it takes two to three minutes to perform, and that restores you to where you were on the day after the surgery. So, to say that your vision will fade away or become dreadful again 10 to 15 years after cataract surgery is entirely untrue.
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About the author
Mr Alex J. Shortt | Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon
MB BCh MSc PhD FRCOphth PGDipCatRef
I’m Alex Shortt, a highly trained academic researcher and Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon based in London’s famous Harley Street medical district. I trained and worked as a consultant for 14 years at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital. I specialise in advanced technologies for correcting vision, including cataract surgery, implantable contact lenses and laser vision correction.
