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You have a Cataract
Your optometrist may have diagnosed a cataract in your eye which is preventing you from seeing as clearly as you have previously. It may be preventing you from continuing to enjoy your hobbies such as reading, needlework, etc.
 
However, it is important to realise that we do not remove cataracts just because they are present but rather when they are affecting your quality of life and hindering you in personal pursuits such as driving. If you feel that your vision has not deteriorated enough to warrant an operation, you can continue to visit your optometrist for eye examinations. You optometrist will refer you to hospital some time in the future if and when your cataract starts to bother you more significantly. Your optometrist will provide follow up care in the same way as the hospital and it is therefore unnecessary for you to come to the hospital until such time as you feel a cataract operation would be of benefit. Your optometrist may provide nutritional therapy to delay development of the cataract.
 
What is a cataract?
 
The human eye is like a camera and one of the essential parts is the lens. The lens usually remains clear but sometimes, mainly due to age and UV exposure it can become cloudy and this is known as a cataract.
 
The cloudy lens can be removed and an artificial lens inserted quite easily. This operation is performed as a day case under local anaesthetic and will only require you to be in hospital for a few hours.
 
The most common way to remove the cataract is by a technique called phacoemulsification. The surgeon makes a tiny hole in the eye, softens the lens with sound waves and removes the cataract through a small suction tube. The back half of the lens capsule is left behind. An artificial lens or implant is inserted to replace the cataract. Sometimes a very small stitch is put in the eye.

Benefits and Risks of Cataract Surgery
 
The most obvious benefits are improved colour vision and greater clarity of vision. Because lens implants are selected to compensate for existing focusing problems, most people find that their eyesight improves considerably after surgery but will need to replace their glasses.

  • More than 95% of patients have improved eyesight following cataract surgery.

  • 86% of patients have enough improvement to allow them to resume driving following their surgery.

Whilst cataract surgery is very safe, as with any operation there is still a small risk that complications may occur.

Possible Complications during the Operation

  • Tearing of the back part of the lens capsule with disturbance of the gel inside the eye that may sometimes result in reduced vision.

  • Loss of all or part of the cataract to the back of the eye requiring a further operation under general anaesthetic.

  • Blood collection inside the eye.

  • Serious infection (1 in 1,000).

Christopher Kerr FSMC, FBOA, FAAO, FC.Optom. Cert. in Ocular Therapeutics (City University)

Combines teaching and research with private practice. Clinical consultant to major industrial and contact lens companies, Health Authorities and many professional bodies. Chairman, Croydon Local Optometric Committee, President British contact Lens Association and previously Senior Optometrist and Director of Contact Lens Services at Mayday University Hospital. Editor: Contact Lens Yearbook. International speaker, broadcaster and author on general optometric and contact lens-related topics. Mayday Healthcare Trust accredited paediatric optometrist.

You can read a recent lecture by given by Christopher at the The Royal Society of Medicine here.
Christopher Kerr & Associates Tel: 020 8688 5076 / 020 8681 2008   Fax: 020 8688 8005
37 LONDON ROAD, WEST CROYDON, CR0 2RE

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