Cataract Surgery. The Most Important Questions

08.02.2019 08:19:09

For many people eye surgery is a very distressing idea. And yet, if inconveniences are great, there are often no other options. This is true for patients with cataracts. Their vision is bad, blurred or double, as their crystalline lens has become cloudy. The disease usually develops when people grow older.

“In Austria, about 90,000 cataract surgeries are performed annually, therefore, the intervention is safe,” says Thomas Kreuz, a member of the Association of Private Hospitals of Austria. However, according to him, many patients feel uncertain. Providing comprehensive information can reduce fear. In this regard, the association provides answers to frequently asked questions:

Is the procedure performed under general anaesthesia?

Most often, the intervention is performed on an outpatient basis. The required degree of anaesthesia in most cases is achieved by using eye drops. Injections near or under the eye, or even narcosis are not needed.

Is the surgery performed by a robot or a doctor?

“The gold standard in Austria, as before, is phacoemulsification. During the procedure, the lens nucleus is dissolved by means of ultrasound, aspirated and replaced with an intraocular lens,” says Kreuz. There are no robot surgeons to remove cataracts. Since the structures in the eye are extremely sensitive and vulnerable, an experienced surgeon with his quick response time cannot be replaced by a computer in the near future, asserts the association.

And what if the new intraocular lens does not “take root”?

This is unlikely, since these intraocular lenses have a service life of about 200 years. Their tolerance is very good. The lens can remain in the eye until the end of life. Only a few cases of intolerance are known around the world. In that case the lens can be removed.

Will ametropia disappear after surgery?

Monofocal intraocular lenses are mainly implanted. “Since patients’ demands for postoperative outcome have greatly increased in recent years, toric and multifocal lenses are being used along with monofocal lenses for implantation. Toric lenses are used to correct astigmatism, while multifocal lenses are used to eliminate presbyopia,” says Kreuz.