Postoperative care plays a significant role in a successful cataract surgery recovery. By using the right approach, you can ensure the healing process goes as smoothly as possible. If you want to make sure that you’re on the best possible path, here are some postoperative care tips for a successful cataract surgery recovery.
Follow All Instructions from Your Eye Care Provider
Your eye care provider will provide you with postoperative care instructions, and it’s critical to follow them precisely. The guidelines are designed to ensure your safe and speedy recovery, including reducing your chances of various complications, such as infections.
Review the instructions with your eye care provider before your procedure, and ask questions if you need clarity. Additionally, reach out to your eye care provider if you need clarification as you recover, as they’ll be happy to assist.
Protect Your Eyes from Trauma and Irritants
After cataract surgery, some eye discomfort is expected. However, you want to make sure that you don’t rub your eyes, as that can cause damage. Additionally, you want to protect your eyes from irritants like dust and pollen.
Since light sensitivity can also come with cataract surgery, wearing wraparound sunglasses is wise. Along with reducing the amount of light that hits your eye, they can help shield your eyes from potential irritants.
Similarly, wear your eye shield while sleeping. That ensures you don’t accidentally rub your eyes in your sleep or when first waking, as well as prevents accidental contact with bedding.
Don’t Participate in Strenuous Activities
Strenuous activity can increase eye pressure, which can hinder your recovery after cataract surgery. As a result, it’s best to avoid heavy lifting, high-intensity workouts, or similar activities after the procedure.
Additionally, try to avoid bending down into positions where your head ends up lower than your waist. That can also increase eye pressure, so it’s better to find alternative body positions while you recover.
Avoid Direct Contact with Water
While good hygiene is critical after cataract surgery, water directly contacting your eyes can increase irritation and put you at risk of infection. Exercise caution when showering, ensuring water streams don’t hit your eyes. Additionally, avoid swimming and hot tubs.
Embrace General Health Best Practices
Many best practices for maintaining your health are also critical to a successful recovery from cataract surgery. Maintain a healthy diet, as nutritious foods and drinks ensure your body has the nutrients it needs. Make sure to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.
While you heal, you also want to avoid alcohol, as it can lead to dehydration and makes postoperative infections more likely. Similarly, don’t smoke, as smoking increases inflammation, heightens your risk of infection, damages blood vessels, and impairs oxygen delivery to your healing tissues.
At ECVA, the safety and health of our patients’ eyes are our priority. If you’re experiencing cataract symptoms, are considering cataract surgery, or simply haven’t had an eye exam in the past year, the ECVA team is here to help. Schedule an appointment at your closest ECVA clinic today.
As you age, you’ll likely have cataract surgery. Cataract surgery in Buffalo is a routine surgery to restore vision in older patients suffering from the condition. According to one study, “Cataract extraction is the most prevalent surgical procedure of all medical specialties with an estimated 3.7 million cases per year in the USA, 7 million in Europe and 20 million worldwide.” Since 1995, more than 500 million cataract surgeries have been performed successfully on more than 130 million people. One estimate suggests doctors will perform close to 100 million of these procedures annually by the year 2050.
These are astonishing numbers that place modern cataract surgery at the top of the list for the most performed medical procedure in the world. However, cataract surgery is also one of the most effective clinical procedures on the body, with a 99% success rate. The procedure continues to evolve and improve. One of the latest innovations is the Alcon PanOptix Lens for cataract surgery. It’s being used today for cataract surgery in Buffalo and around the U.S. What is the PanOptix Trifocal Lens? Why might it be a better option for your cataract surgery?
What is the Alcon PanOptix Trifocal Lens?
The Alcon PanOptix Lens for cataract surgery is a trifocal intraocular lens, or IOL, designed for cataract surgery. This technology is designed to provide clear vision at near, intermediate, and far distances after cataract surgery.
The Alcon PanOptix Trifocal Lens is used in cataract surgery as a replacement for the natural lens that is clouded and blurred. The surgical procedure involves removing the cloudy lens and implanting the PanOptix trifocal lens.
Surgeons typically perform cataract surgery in Buffalo and around the country as an outpatient procedure under local anesthesia. The surgeon will make a small incision in the cornea and use ultrasound to break up and remove the cloudy lens during the process. The new PanOptix Trifocal lens is inserted through the same incision and positioned in the lens capsule.
After surgery, your vision should gradually improve over a few days and weeks. The trifocal technology in the PanOptix Trifocal Lens allows for clear vision at near, intermediate, and far distances without the need for glasses or contact lenses in most cases. After surgery, your vision should gradually improve over a few days and weeks. The trifocal technology in the PanOptix Trifocal Lens allows for clear vision at near, intermediate, and far distances without the need for glasses or contact lenses in most cases.
What Technology is Used in PanOptix Trifocal Lenses?
The Alcon PanOptix Trifocal Lens uses copyrighted, FDA-approved trifocal optical technology. This technology divides incoming light into three focal points, providing clear vision at near, middle, and far distances. The trifocal design leverages diffractive zones in the lens that split light into several focal points. The zones provide a patient with clear vision at different lengths without needing other corrective lenses. This technology offers an improved range of vision that single-focus intraocular lenses do not.
To understand how the PanOptix Trifocal Lens works, you must first understand how the eye sees. Your eyes see by capturing light and transforming it into electrical signals transmitted to the brain. When you look at an object, several things happen:
Light enters the cornea, the transparent outer layer that helps to focus incoming light back toward the brain.
The light passes through the pupil, the adjustable opening in the center of the eye. The pupil opens and closes to adjust how much light hits the retina at the back of the eye.
The light passes through the lens of the eye, which is the clear covering that is replaced with an interocular lens during cataract surgery.
Light hits the retina at the back of the eye. The retina is a thin layer of tissue that contain photoreceptor cells called rods and cones. These cells convert the light (and what you see) into an electrical signal that transmits to the brain through the optic nerve.
The brain processes the electrical signals, forming an image. This process is what allows you to see and perceive the world around you.
When a cataract clouds the eye, this disrupts the normal process of clear vision. Your vision can also be disrupted by nearsightedness, farsightedness, or other problems that prevent perfect 20/20 vision. These issues stem from having an improperly shaped eye so that light does not adequately focus on the retina. For example:
Nearsightedness or myopia occurs when the eye is too long or the cornea is too curved. When light enters the eye, it focuses in front of the retina instead of directly on it. This results in clear close-up vision but blurry distance vision.
Farsightedness or hyperopia happens when the eye is too short, or the cornea is too flat, causing light to focus behind the retina. Farsightedness lets you see in the distance, but up close, vision is blurry.
Corrective eyewear, in the form of glasses or contacts, corrects where light focuses in the eye Corrective eyewear, in the form of glasses or contacts, corrects where light focuses in the eye to improve your vision. That’s the power of this technology to help you see clearer. Interestingly, the Alcon PanOptix Lens for cataract surgery does something similar, except the corrective technology is built into the interocular lens. Now, your cataract surgery in Buffalo will not only eliminate the cloudy vision that comes with a cataract. If the PanOptix Trifocal Lens is suitable for you, it can also stop your need for other types of corrective vision wear.
Is the PanOptix Trifocal Lens Right for Everyone?
The Alcon PanOptix Trifocal Lens may not be the right choice for everyone. Some factors that may impact the suitability of the Alcon PanOptix Lens for cataract surgery include:
Your existing visual impairments.
Your overall health.
Your lifestyle.
Your expectations.
You may not be an ideal candidate if you have very high visual demands, such as frequently driving at night or needing precise intermediate vision. You must have an open discussion with your eye doctor to determine the best type of interocular lens or whether cataract surgery is the right option for you at this time.
Benefits of the Alcon PanOptix Trifocal Lens for Cataract Surgery in Buffalo
The Alcon PanOptix Trifocal Lens is considered better than a regular intraocular lens in several ways:
Improved vision at multiple distances: the technology built into the PanOptix Trifocal lens turns the average cataract surgery in Buffalo into a vision correction dream. You can emerge from the surgery with clear vision at near, mid, and far distances without needing glasses or contact lenses. This makes the Alcon PanOptix Lens for cataract surgery a better option over traditional single-focused IOLs.
Improved night vision: The Alcon PanOptix Trifocal Lens is designed to offer improved night vision, particularly when compared to traditional intraocular lenses, by reducing glare and halos that muddy your vision in the evening.
Increased patient satisfaction: Patients who undergo cataract surgery in Buffalo prefer the PanOptix Trifocal Lens, reporting higher levels of satisfaction with their vision after the surgery.
It’s important to note that not all patients are suitable for the PanOptix Trifocal Lens. Your cataract surgery in Buffalo will include a comprehensive eye exam and discussion of your vision needs and goals. Talk to your doctor about whether the Alcon PanOptix Lens for your cataract surgery is the best option.
#1 The PanOptix Lens Offers Three Clear Vision Distance
The Alcon PanOptix Trifocal Lens offers three corrective vision distances:
Near vision: Improvements in your near vision happen through a series of small diffractive zones within the lens that split light into a nearby focal point. This vision correction lets you see objects up close without needing contact lenses or glasses.
Intermediate vision: Better middle-distance vision occurs through a series of larger diffractive lens zones that split light into an intermediate focal point. This correction lets you see objects at a middle distance, such as a computer screen or a car dashboard, without needing additional corrective lenses.
Far vision: Seeing far away is better with the Alcon PanOptix Trifocal Lens for cataract surgery. Better far vision happens through the center of the intraocular lens, which is dedicated to providing a clear view of the distance.
The combination of trifocal (near, intermediate, and far) vision in the Alcon PanOptix Lens allows you to see clearly at different distances without the need for glasses or contact lenses. With traditional single-focus interocular lens, patients often still need reading or other corrective lenses to see clearly, even after their Buffalo cataract surgery.
#2 Experience Blue Light Protection with PanOptix Trifocal Lenses
The PanOptix Trifocal Lens is permanently coated to protect the eyes against blue light from computer screens and the sun’s ultraviolet light. However, the Alcon PanOptix Lens isn’t light responsive, meaning, they don’t operate like photo gray glasses that darken under the sun’s rays. It’s generally a good idea to protect your eyes from excess sun exposure and to take breaks from your computer screen to allow the eyes to rest.
#3 The PanOptix Trifocal Lens Can Correct Astigmatism
The PanOptix Trifocal Toric Lens corrects astigmatism. The Toric Lens is the only FDA-approved trifocal IOL that corrects astigmatism after cataract surgery. Astigmatism is a common refractive error of the eye that causes blurred vision. The condition occurs when the cornea or the lens inside the eye isn’t evenly curved, causing the light entering the eye to focus unevenly on the retina. This results in eye blur at near and far distances. The Alcon PanOptix Lens for cataract surgery can take care of this condition and restore your vision
#4 PanOptix Trifocal Lenses Improve the Quality of Your Vision
PanOptix trifocal lenses improve the quality of your eyesight by providing clear vision at all distances. The Alcon PanOptix Lens for cataract surgery not only eliminates the gradual clouding of your vision caused by the condition, this procedure can help eliminate your glasses entirely.
Additionally, the PanOptix Trifocal Lens has a unique design that helps reduce visual distortions and aberrations, providing clear and stable vision in all lighting conditions. This leads to improved visual quality, reducing the visual strain and discomfort often associated with traditional multifocal lenses.
#5 With the PanOptix Trifocal IOL You Can Maintain an Active Lifestyle
The Alcon PanOptic Trifocal Lens for cataract surgery can help you maintain an active lifestyle without needing multiple pairs of glasses or switching between contacts and glasses. This implant makes it easier to participate in activities requiring visual acuity at multiple distances, such as playing sports and using a computer, driving, or reading.
The Alcon PanOptic Lens is surgically implanted inside the eye, so it isn’t necessary to remove or clean it. This convenience can give you the peace of mind to participate in an active lifestyle without requiring contacts or glasses.
If you’re experiencing the cloudy, blurry vision common to cataract sufferers, the ophthalmologists at Eye Care & Vision Associates can determine if PanOptix cataract surgery is right for you. We offer four locations for cataract surgery in Buffalo and the surrounding region: Elmwood Village, Southtowns, Niagara Falls, and Williamsville.
Request an appointment with the cataract surgeons at ECVA today to learn more about the Alcon PanOptix Trifocal Lens. We can help!
Cataracts can have a dramatic impact on your vision, causing cloudiness that harms visual acuity and alters the visual field. Typically, cataracts are a normal part of the aging process. Additionally, they’re reasonably easy to treat should the need arise.
However, those with cataracts may want to do their part to slow the progression of the condition. While there isn’t a natural cure for cataracts, certain lifestyle practices may make a difference. Here are some approaches that are worth trying.
Watch Blood Sugar
Cataracts are more common in individuals with diabetes. Mainly, it’s because high blood pressure can lead to certain eye changes, such as swelling of the lens. By keeping blood sugar under control, those eye changes don’t occur, potentially lowering your risk of developing cataracts.
In most cases, you should follow your doctor’s recommendations regarding blood sugar management. Along with dietary changes, certain prescription medications may be necessary to maintain blood sugar levels. By adhering to the treatment plan, you’ll have a far easier time keeping everything under control.
Quit Smoking
Smoking is associated with a range of health conditions, including a higher occurrence of cataracts. By quitting, you could reduce your risk of developing cataracts early or may be able to slow the overall progression.
Those who want to quit have a variety of options available. You can speak with your physician about smoking-cessation medications, join smoking-cessation programs, or use over-the-counter products to make the transition easier to manage.
Avoid Excessive Alcohol Consumption
Like smoking, excessive alcohol consumption is tied to a range of health conditions. Generally speaking, consuming more than two alcoholic beverages daily increases a person’s risk of cataracts. Since that’s the case, limiting your consumption can potentially make a difference.
It’s critical to point out that serving sizes of alcohol are far smaller than most people expect. “Standard” drinks are based on alcohol levels, not beverage volumes. Based on average alcohol percentages, a serving includes 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. However, drinks with higher-than-average alcohol contents may actually count for two or more servings, so keep that in mind.
Eat Nutritious Foods
A diet rich in nutrients like vitamins C and E helps support good eye health. By ensuring your diet is balanced and chocked full of critical vitamins and minerals, you may reduce your odds of developing cataracts.
Wear UV-Blocking Sunglasses
UV rays can damage the eyes, even if the sun isn’t shining brightly. By wearing UV-blocking sunglasses, you prevent those harmful rays from reaching your eyes, ensuring they don’t cause damage or accelerate the development of certain eye conditions. Just make sure they’re rated for UV-A and UV-B rays, as broad-spectrum protection is a far better approach.
At ECVA, the safety and health of our patient’s eyes are our priority. If you are experiencing symptoms of cataracts or progressing cataracts, or simply haven’t seen your eye care provider in the past year, the ECVA team is here to help. Schedule an appointment at your closest ECVA clinic today.
Cataracts are some of the most common eye ailments and affect millions of people all over the globe, especially older folks. For many years, cataracts were treated through traditional surgery, which involves making an incision in the cornea to remove the clouded lens. This treatment is still used to help many cataract patients today.
In recent years, technological advancements in medicine laser allowed a new type of cataract surgery to blossom: laser surgery. This type of blade-free cataract surgery is becoming more and more widely used, and it has several advantages. With that being said, traditional cataract surgery is still performed frequently and is a perfectly safe and viable procedure.
Let’s learn more about what cataracts are and about each type of treatment. Then, we’ll discuss the similarities and differences between traditional and laser cataract surgery to help you decide which method is right for you.
What are Cataracts?
The eye has a lens that helps focus light upon the back of the eye, which sends that signal to the brain for processing. This is the way that our eyes transmit an image to our brain. A cataract occurs when the lens of the eye becomes cloudy, opaque, or discolored. To a person with cataracts, the effect is similar to looking out of a cloudy window. Other symptoms include:
· Seeing halos around lights
· Sensitivity to light or glare
· Poor night vision
· Seeing colors as faded or washed-out
· Double vision
The leading cause of cataracts is simple aging – over time, it’s common for the lens of the eye to get clouded. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), about two in three Americans over the age of 80, and about 30 million Americans in total, have cataracts. There are other possible causes of cataracts, however, including steroid use, eye injury, and exposure to ultraviolet light. Additionally, certain diseases such as diabetes make the development of cataracts more likely. In fact, people over 65 with diabetes are twice as likely to develop cataracts as people of the same age who don’t have diabetes, according to Medical News Today.
How Are Cataracts Treated?
In some cases, treatment for cataracts isn’t necessary, particularly if the problem is only minor and the individual can still go about their daily life without much impairment. But the problem is likely to grow over time, eventually clouding more and more of the eye and affecting vision. If cataracts are left untreated, they can obscure the entire field of vision and cause complete blindness.
Eventually, cataracts will require treatment. And unfortunately, it’s not as simple as taking a pill or putting medicated eye drops into your eyes. Surgery is the best option for removing clouded lenses entirely and helping a patient get back to normal vision. There are two options: traditional cataract surgery and laser-assisted cataract surgery.
Types of Cataract Surgery: Traditional vs. Laser-Assisted
What does traditional cataract surgery involve? How about laser-assisted surgery? Let’s take a closer look at each of these types of cataract surgery options.
Traditional Cataract Surgery
Traditional surgery to remove a cataract involves using a blade to make a tiny incision on the side of the cornea (the lens) and removing the cataract-clouded lens. Then, an artificial lens known as an intraocular lens is inserted to replace the natural lens. Sutures may be used to close the incision, but it’s more common for the incision to be left to heal on its own over time.
How Long Does Traditional Cataract Surgery Take?
Traditional cataract surgery is a very quick procedure – the actual removal of the cataract-clouded lens only takes about 20 minutes or so. And the recovery period is relatively fast, too. Most people are fully healed and back to normal activities within a few days or weeks.
What is Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery?
Laser surgery to remove a cataract lens utilizes laser technology and 3D imaging. The first step involves the surgeon creating a customized digital plan for the cataract surgery using 3D imaging of the patient’s eye. The process is “mapped” precisely ahead of time.
The procedure involves using an advanced type of laser known as a femtosecond laser to create an opening in the front layer of the lens. The laser breaks up the cloudy lens, and then the lens is suctioned out through small incisions in the patient’s cornea. Next, an intraocular lens replaces the natural lens, just like in traditional cataract surgery.
Differences Between Traditional Cataract Surgery and Laser Cataract Surgery
The result of traditional and laser cataract surgery is the same: removal of the clouded lens and replacement with an artificial one. But there are clear differences between the procedures.
Tools Used
One big difference between these two procedures is in the tools used. With traditional cataract surgery, manual instruments are used – a blade to make an incision in the cornea, and forceps or a suction tool
to remove the lens. In laser surgery, no blades or instruments are used at all. The laser itself makes the incisions and breaks up the clouded lens.
The use of fewer tools in laser cataract surgery adds to the overall safety of the procedure, and many steps in the process are automated and computer-controlled which reduces the risk of complications even further. However, traditional cataract surgery is still a very safe procedure with an extremely low risk of complications or side effects.
Accuracy
Laser cataract surgery uses 3D imaging to create a customized plan for a patient’s cataract removal. And the laser itself allows for very precise incisions and movements. In this way, laser eye surgery for cataracts is overall more accurate and precise than traditional cataract surgery.
Similarities with Traditional and Laser Cataract Surgery
As different as these two types of procedures are, they also share plenty of similarities. Namely, the two types of cataract surgery last the same length of time and are equally safe.
Duration
Whether a surgeon is using manual tools or being assisted by a laser, traditional and laser cataract surgeries are very quick procedures. The removal of the cloudy lens only takes a few minutes – 10 to 20 minutes is the average time, although it can take longer depending on the severity of the cataracts.
Safety
Both types of cataract surgery are extremely safe. It’s one of the most common medical procedures performed by ophthalmologists and eye surgeons. And the procedure is highly effective – according to UCI Health, the success rate is 99 percent.
Schedule a Consultation with the Ophthalmologists at ECVA to Determine Which Cataract Treatment is Right for You
Which cataract treatment is right for you? That depends on the severity of your cataracts, your health history and previous eye surgeries you may have undergone, and the advice of your ophthalmologist and other eye-care professionals. Both types of cataract surgery are used frequently – laser eye surgery for cataracts is generally more precise and may help lessen recovery time, but traditional cataract surgery is a perfectly viable procedure as well.
In the early stages of cataracts, treatment might not be necessary at all. Some patients are aided by different eyeglasses, magnifying glasses, or different and/or stronger lighting. But eventually, cataracts will get worse and start to affect eyesight. At that point or whenever cataracts start to affect a person’s ability to perform normal activities, surgery is usually recommended.
Looking for cataract removal in Buffalo, NY?
If you have signs or symptoms of cataracts, or if you’d like to learn more about this condition and the treatment options available, ECVA can help. The safety and health of our patients’ eyes are our top priority – schedule an appointment at the nearest ECVA clinic today.
