Cataracts
What are cataracts?
Cataracts are the clouding of the eye’s natural lens.
It develops slowly as the proteins in the lens breakdown and clump together, scattering and blocking light.
This creates symptoms like blurred vision, sensitivity to glare, halos around lights at night, and faded colours.
The Process
1. Appointment with Trevor
2. Assessment and referral – public or private
3. Surgery dates offered by nominated surgeon
4. As soon as surgical dates are confirmed, please contact Lisa at T.W.O. to pre-book your post-cataract visit for approximately 6 weeks after your final surgery. *This MUST be done in advance to avoid disappointment and delay.
5. Surgery Day!
6. Follow-up appointments with surgeon
7. Final eye-health check with Trevor with new prescription and spectacles if required.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the symptoms of cataracts?
What else can cause cataracts?
What treatment is available?
The only effective treatment for cataracts is cataract surgery. There are no magic drops, tablets or natural remedies to reverse cataracts. Don’t believe social media posts claiming otherwise.
Cataract surgery is day surgery. You are only in theatre approximately 20 minutes. You will have twilight sedation and local anaesthetic. Most people fall asleep during the procedure. Your natural lens is removed and an artificial intraocular lens (IOL) replaces it.
Trevor will nominate the respected referee according to your specific cataract needs.
What type of IOL can I have?
The referred surgeon will go through all your options based on your history and pre-operative measurements. Options include:
- Having both eyes designed for distance vision and wear glasses just for near tasks,
- Having one eye designed for distance and the other for reading, this is called monovision.
- Having multifocal IOLs where each eye attempts to achieve distance and near vision, however this often causes haloes around lights, so it is a compromise.
- EDOF lenses. These are extended depth of focus lenses. They give good distance and some mid range vision (think desk work) but require weak reading glasses for fine things up close.
There are no guarantees of being totally spectacle free after the surgery, but you should certainly be less dependent on spectacles afterwards. There is a recommended five week post operative visit with your referring Optometrist to establish a new baseline of care. Scheduling this prebooked appointment is best done at the time you receive your surgery date.
What are the risks of cataract surgery?
Within a few days after surgery, 99 out of 100 people are doing very well, though it is best to wait 4 weeks after the second eye is done before returning to finalise any post operative spectacles.
About 1 in a 100 people will have mild complications that will resolve within a few weeks.
About 1 in a 1000 people can have serious complications where loss of vision can result. This includes things like retinal detachment and endophthalmitis (severe infection).