Two Choices Available for Removal of Your Cataracts by Your Ophthalmologist

Your eyes' lenses serve as a camera that allows you to see what is going on in your field of vision. Unfortunately, as you grow old, chances are that you will develop cataracts that cloud your vision. A cataract materializes when clumps of protein in the lens cause your lens to become cloudy. That activity negatively impacts your vision to the degree that you cannot see or even read properly. In most cases, the condition worsens. Since cataracts cannot be cured, your ophthalmologist has two choices for surgical removal of cataracts.

Two Surgical Removal Choices

It's a given that cataracts cannot be cured. Prescription glasses cannot correct them. So they have to be removed via surgery and replaced with artificial lenses. You don't have to live forever with cataracts until clouding completely covers your lenses. You do have two options for surgical intervention. When you have obvious lens clouding or blurred vision, your ophthalmologist can perform an intraocular (IOL) outpatient procedure wherein the lenses you were born with are replaced with artificial lenses. There is also a laser treatment option that your ophthalmologist can use to remove your cataracts as well.

Cataract Evaluation

Your eye doctor will see you initially for an evaluation. If the changes in your lenses do not currently interfere with your vision, your doctor might adopt a watchful waiting period and go into details with you so that you'll understand why that waiting stance is being recommended. That decision is only made when you are still able to read the eye testing chart accurately. You'll be scheduled for another eye checkup in approximately six months, or before that if you have worrying conditions about the cataract.

Intraocular Lens via Phacoemulsification

With this method, your ophthalmologist uses an ultrasound device to perform a phacoemulsification process that breaks down your cloudy cataract eye lenses. The crumbled lenses are thereafter suctioned from your eye's capsular bag and removed. Your ophthalmologist then replaces the cloudy lenses with your new and clear intraocular lenses. Your eye will be covered following the surgery to protect the process of healing, which could last anywhere from two weeks to one month.

Laser Cataract Surgery

Laser cataract surgery is the latest cataract removal method now being used. The difference between laser surgery and phacoemulsification is that your physician does not rely on a handheld tool instrument such as a surgical blade to perform the procedure. Naturally, the laser treatment reportedly uses less energy to break up the lens and subsequently remove the lens debris. Of course, laser-assisted cataract removal costs more than the traditional process of phacoemulsification. You should check with your insurance company and learn whether the company will pay for laser-assisted cataract removal.

Speak with your eye doctor for more information about eye disease treatment.