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Cataract is clouding of the normally clear lens of the eye. As the cloudiness of lens increases, light reaching the retina gets blocked and causes decrease in vision. Usually cataract is an age related problem. Till date, there are no medicines to cure or prevent cataract and once a person has cataract, the only mode of treatment is surgery. |
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How do I know if I have cataract? |
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You may experience one or more of following
- Gradual decrease in vision, more in bright or dim light
- Glare
- Seeing more then one image or colors
- Decreased contrast
- Frequent change in glasses number
- White color in pupil area in advanced cases
- Rarely in advanced cases- redness, pain and watering due to inflammation or secondary glaucoma
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What are the causes of cataract? |
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Usually it is an age related process. The lens proteins degenerate and form opacities in the lens. It can also occur at an early age in many conditions like-
- Congenital or hereditary
- Systemic diseases like diabetes
- Medicines like steroids
- Eye injury- trauma, radiation etc.
- Eye diseases like uveitis
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How is cataract diagnosed? |
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A detailed, thorough eye check up is done to detect the presence of cataract.
A careful evaluation also helps rule out other conditions that may be causing blurred vision or other eye problems. Problems with other structures of the eye (such as the cornea, retina or optic nerve) may be responsible for vision loss and may prevent you from having significant improvement in vision after cataract surgery. Your eye doctor can tell you how much visual improvement is likely. |
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What is the treatment of cataract? |
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It is important to understand that as yet there is no known prevention or medical cure for cataract. No medications, dietary supplements or exercises have been shown to prevent or cure cataracts.
Surgery is the only known definitive treatment for cataract. Modern day cataract surgery is a very safe and highly successful procedure. However, if symptoms of cataract are not bothering you very much, surgery may not be needed. Sometimes a simple change in eyeglass prescription may be adequate. |
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When should I go for my cataract surgery? |
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| Cataract surgery should be considered when you feel that the decrease in vision is interfering with your daily activities. It is not recommended to wait for the cataract to mature (ripen or pakna) as it may lead to complications in the eye and often becomes difficult to operate by phacoemulsification. Based on your symptoms, you and your ophthalmologist should decide together when surge ry is appropriate. |
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What is the surgery for cataract? |
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| The ideal, state-of-the-art surgery in today's date is a procedure called Phacoemulsification with foldable lens implantation. The whole surgery is done through a small suture less incision (cut) with micro fine instruments under sophisticated operating microscopes using the phacoemulsification machine. An ultrasonic tip cuts the cataract into small pieces, emulsifies (pulp) and sucks them out of the eye. Through the same small incision, an artificial lens called Intraocular lens (IOL) is implanted in place of the earlier opacified lens. This lens allows light to be clearly focused on the retina leading to good vision. |
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What are the advantages of phacoemulsification done at PVEH? |
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| We offer the advantage of NO STITCH / NO INJECTION / NO EYE PATCH following cataract surgery. It is done as a day care procedure where you have to be in hospital for a few hours only. Visual recovery is faster, postoperative period more comfortable and dependence on glasses after surgery is less. |
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What is the difference between nonfoldable & foldable intraocular lens? |
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| As the name suggests, foldable intraocular lens is placed inside the eye through 2.2 to 2.8mm incision (it opens up inside the eye in place of earlier opacified lens) while a nonfoldable lens is inserted through 5 or 6mm incision. Due to small size of incision after foldable IOL, healing and recovery is faster with less dependence on glasses. |
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What is the protocol at PVEH for surgery? |
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| Once the surgery is advised after examining the eye, we do the biometry to calculate the intraocular lens power specific for your eye and ask for routine investigations like blood sugar, blood pressure, urine test, ECG and clearance from physician. All this requires just one or two consultation and you are then asked to report on the day of surgery. The preoperative preparation includes putting some eye drops and few medicines if required. The hospitalization for surgery is for a few hours only. Patients can resume their day-to-day normal activities thereafter. The recovery period is a few days and vision is restored within a week. Final spectacle prescription is given after about 4 weeks. |
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What are the precautions to be taken after surgery? |
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| With the modern day cataract surgery there are hardly any restrictions. The only precautions we advice are to maintain good hygiene, avoid water going in the eyes and rubbing of eye for few days. You can resume most of your daily work within a few days. At home you can leave your eyes open and use dark glasses only when outdoor to prevent dust and sun from harming your eyes. Avoid head bath for a week. |
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Will I need glasses after surgery? |
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| The power of intraocular lens implanted in the eye is calculated for each person to achieve zero power of glasses after surgery. Still patients may require a small spectacle power for better clarity, though most may not feel the need to do so. This is due to changes in corneal curvature after surgery and variations in the individual wound healing process. Most of the patients will require reading glasses, as the monofocal intraocular lens usually implanted cannot focus for near as our natural lens does. |
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Are there any complications of cataract surgery? |
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| With modern equipments, the cataract surgery has become quite safe. However like any surgery there is always a small risk of complications. Though rare, some of the possible complications include capsular rupture, inflammation, nucleus drop and infection. |
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Will the lens implanted in my eye last forever? Does the surgery ever need to be repeated again? |
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| The lens implant is forever and cataract surgery does not need a repeat procedure. Occasionally a thickening of membrane behind lens may occur in months or years following cataract surgery. This is called posterior capsular opacification, and can be effectively treated by a small laser procedure, called YAG Capsulolotomy, done in OPD. |
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What are the types of BEST quality foldable intraocular lens available? |
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A lot of advancement has been made in intraocular lenses in terms of their optics, design and the material being used. We now have implants that can block ultraviolet light, give better contrast sensitivity (sharpness of vision in dim light conditions), which are more biocompatible and decrease the rate of posterior capsule opacification. Our doctors will guide and help you in making a choice according to your visual needs.
- ASPHERIC intraocular lens: These IOLs provide better contrast sensitivity so that patient may have better sharpness of vision particularly in dim light conditions
- TORIC intraocular lens: Toric IOLs are designed to correct pre-existing astigmatism. Routine IOLs correct the spherical power of glasses leaving behind preexisting cylindrical number. Toric IOLs have cylindrical power correction incorporated in the optics to neutralize cylinder or astigmatic power of your spectacles. For patients who need such correction, the quality of vision is greatly enhanced with these lenses.
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Can I avoid wearing reading glasses after my cataract surgery? |
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The monofocal foldable IOL corrects majority of the distance vision but one still has to wear reading glasses. If you do not wish to wear spectacles after cataract surgery both for distance and near, you can opt for -
- MULTIFOCAL intraocular lens: This premium lens gives a person freedom from wearing glasses most of the times. They are designed in such a way that their optics allows both distant and near vision, hence, reducing the dependence on glasses. These have to be chosen by the doctor for each patient on an individual basis as there is a selection criteria for choosing them. Very few patients may still require glasses for fine prints and some may have slightly lower contrast and night driving issues due to halos or glare.
- Accommodating intraocular lens: This lens interacts with ciliary muscles and zonules, using hinges at both ends to move forward and backward inside the eye using the same mechanism of accommodation as the normal lens. Accommodating IOLs have the potential to eliminate or reduce the dependence on glasses after cataract surgery. Incidence of halos, glares and other visual aberrations is less. Some patients may require glasses for very fine print.
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| Cataract is the commonest cause of decreased vision in the elderly. However, it is an easily treatable condition with excellent results. |
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