Cataract Surgery -
The Most Common
Eye Care Procedure

The good news is, cataract surgery is one of the most successful and safest procedures in all of medicine.

In fact, it is also the most common eye surgery, due to the prevalence of cataracts (of course, we'd rather not have it in the first place!).

Now, this procedure involves removing the lens of the eye where the cataracts have developed. And in its place, an intraocular lens is inserted to retain visual acuity.

The 2 types of this procedure are:

• Extra-capsular - The lens of the eye is removed, but the most part of the lens capsule is left intact. Sometimes, the lens is broken up by high frequency sound waves before it is removed.

• Intra-capsular - This rarely performed procedure involves removing the entire lens of the eye, together with the lens capsule. An intraocular lens is then implanted permanently into the eye.

A local anaesthetic is used most of the time for this surgery, and the patient can leave for home within the same day.

After-surgery complications are rare, but a significant number of people do experience a thicker and cloudier lens capsule. This can be overcome fairly easily by making holes in the capsules using a laser.

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