Cataract Surgery

Cataract Surgery

Cataract surgery is a procedure to remove the lens of your eye and replace it with an artificial lens. Normally, the lens of your eye is clear. With time, the lens eventually becomes cloudy and vision is impaired as a cataract develops. Some times people are aware of their decreased vision but many times they don’t realize how much their vision has diminished because it happens so gradually.

Cataract surgery typically takes 15 minutes and is performed by an eye doctor (ophthalmologist) on an outpatient basis, which means you don’t have to stay in the hospital after the surgery. Although all surgeries have some risk, Cataract surgery is very common and is generally a safe procedure. Many patients report some minor eye irritation after the procedure but most patients say that the surgery is relatively comfortable.  Eye drops are typically used for 1 month after surgery to minimize risk of infection and inflammation.

The surgery is at no additional cost to the patient as it is covered fully by the provincial healthcare plan (MSP) for residents of British Columbia. An intraocular lens (IOL) is placed in the patient’s eye at the time of surgery. This lens is requires to focus light thus providing sharper vision.  Patients have the option of choosing a standard lens covered fully by MSP or other options such as Toric lenses that reduce astigmatism (i.e abnormal curvature of eye) or multifocal lenses that provide a wider range of vision from near to far.