Cataract Procedure

Operating on any part of the eyeball requires lots of patient and skillful hands as our eyeball is really small (an average diameter of 24mm) and of course, it is one of the most delicate part of our body.  During LASIK/LASEK surgery, top corneal layer is scraped off, laser is used and then, cornea is covered with contact lenses for recovery, but for cataract surgery, the surgeon needs to create an incision on the cornea, remove the cataract, insert a new lens and then stitch up the incision.

So how does the cataract surgery go? The procedure will vary a little depending on the clinic and the machine used. After the doctor confirmed that your eyes have cataract, appointment for cataract removal will be set up and one eye is usually operated on the first day and the other on the second day. The doctor will also check with you about your medical history to make sure that the drugs you are currently taking will not interfere with the medication prescribed. Normally, you will be asked to stop taking any medication for cardiovascular diseases and eye drops will be prescribed for about 4 days to a week before the surgery. 

On the surgery day, the doctor would exam the infected eye again before the surgery and the consultant will explain the steps of taking the prescribed eye drops after the surgery.  After that, you will be brought into the surgery wearing a gown and cap and the nurse will ask you to sit on a reclining chair. With you comfortably laid down, the nurse will then disinfect your eye area including the forehead, drop some local anesthesia eye drops, cover your head and eye with a sterile covering, use a speculum to hold your eye in place and instruct you not to move your eye too much during operation. When this is done, the surgeon will come in to get ready for the surgery. 

Once the surgeon is ready, the surgeon will create 2 small incisions on your cornea using an operating microscope and inject a gel-like substance, viscoelastic, into your anterior chamber to help stabilize your eye pressure during the surgery. Next, the surgeon will insert forceps through one of the incisions to remove the top thin layer of the cataract and then by using Infiniti Vision system, the surgeon will use the Infiniti handpiece to slowly break up the cloudy lens into smaller pieces (phacofracture) and remove them through suction (less than 5 minutes) including making sure that the cataract on the edge is removed.   

Incisions are made.

Forceps used to remove top layer.

Infinite handpiece used to remove cataract.

New IOL lens inserted. 

After the cataract is removed thoroughly, a high-quality intraocular lens is inserted into your eye to replace the original lens and incision is sutured.  The type of lens inserted will depend on your eye’s needs. At present you could have lens that is for both cataract and presbyopia inserted. A protective shield will then be placed on your eye and you would be taken to the recovery area to rest for about 30 minutes.  Before you leave, the surgeon will check on your eye again and another appointment will be made for you to return for check-up on the next day. It is a painless surgery and the recovery period will take about a week with you being able to return to work on the next day.  


Just out of curiosity, I checked on a few videos on traditional cataract procedure and you could watch them on the following sites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X_Q3lrw5JA (watch from the middle of film - couching procedure)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeBbKS0GoQs (watch from the middle of film)