Cataracts - Anyone Help Please

[RupertTheFridge]

Have just been diagnosed with this @ 46, bit scary, and have been referred for surgery.

According to optician it is done under local anaesthetic!

Has anyone had it done, any good pointers/advice etc........

[whitechief]

RupertTheFridge said:

Have just been diagnosed with this @ 46, bit scary, and have been referred for surgery.

According to optician it is done under local anaesthetic!

Has anyone had it done, any good pointers/advice etc........

My Nan had both eyes done, She's 92, no problems and now has brand new eyesight

[RupertTheFridge]

whitechief said:

RupertTheFridge said:

Have just been diagnosed with this @ 46, bit scary, and have been referred for surgery.

According to optician it is done under local anaesthetic!

Has anyone had it done, any good pointers/advice etc........

My Nan had both eyes done, She's 92, no problems and now has brand new eyesight

Brave lady chap, me ........ I'm cacking it!

[ShadownINja]

My mum had similar work done on her eyes. The only thing is to check you're given the right advice for post-op care when you're at home.

[RobDickinson]

Isnt this one of the simplest, quickest, safes ops ?

[968]

RupertTheFridge said:

Have just been diagnosed with this @ 46, bit scary, and have been referred for surgery.

According to optician it is done under local anaesthetic!

Has anyone had it done, any good pointers/advice etc........

Hi, I've done probably more than 400 cataract operations.

Yes it can be done under local anaesthetic, the vast majority of our cases are, however, if a patient is particularly twitchy or reticent, we can do the op under general anaesthetic, although with the attendant risks of an anaesthetic.

The op is quick (about 10-15minutes, in my hands) and pain free. It's a day case and has a very high success rate (approx 97% patients get fantastic vision post op). Any specific questions feel free to email me.

[968]

RobDickinson said:

Isnt this one of the simplest, quickest, safes ops ?

No.

It's safe and successful, but it's not simple. It has a very steep learning curve and can easily go wrong in the wrong hands, however, most experienced surgeons can perform the op very safely and efficiently. The myth perpetuated by some GPs and Opticians that it's a doddle is one borne out the the fact they don't do the operation and don't realize how easy it is to go wrong.

I would add that in the vast majority of cases, patients get fantastic results and their vision is better than it has been for many years.

Edited by 968 on Thursday 8th January 01:13

[Shaw Tarse]

Dad had this op, no side effects, just better visionp

[fluffnik]

968 said:

It's safe and successful, but it's not simple. It has a very steep learning curve and can easily go wrong in the wrong hands, however, most experienced surgeons can perform the op very safely and efficiently.

What's your take on the Indian cataract hit squads?

I'm inclined to favour the one trick pony...

[RobDickinson]

fluffnik said:

What's your take on the Indian cataract hit squads?

I'm inclined to favour the one trick pony...

NHS is moving more to people who specialse in certain procedures, centes of excelence for etc because doing the same thing more maks you better at it.

[RupertTheFridge]

968 said:

Hi, I've done probably more than 400 cataract operations.

Yes it can be done under local anaesthetic, the vast majority of our cases are, however, if a patient is particularly twitchy or reticent, we can do the op under general anaesthetic, although with the attendant risks of an anaesthetic.

The op is quick (about 10-15minutes, in my hands) and pain free. It's a day case and has a very high success rate (approx 97% patients get fantastic vision post op). Any specific questions feel free to email me.

PH never ceases to amaze me, an Opthalmic Surgeon on demand, well cool.

Cheers for the reassurance. The only thing thats getting me worked up a bit is the local anaesthetic, just the mental thought of some messing with my eyes whilst I'm awake has me twitchy.

Is it safe so say that the patient feels no part of this operation, and presumably vision during the operation is none existant?

[968]

RupertTheFridge said:

968 said:

Hi, I've done probably more than 400 cataract operations.

Yes it can be done under local anaesthetic, the vast majority of our cases are, however, if a patient is particularly twitchy or reticent, we can do the op under general anaesthetic, although with the attendant risks of an anaesthetic.

The op is quick (about 10-15minutes, in my hands) and pain free. It's a day case and has a very high success rate (approx 97% patients get fantastic vision post op). Any specific questions feel free to email me.

PH never ceases to amaze me, an Opthalmic Surgeon on demand, well cool.

Cheers for the reassurance. The only thing thats getting me worked up a bit is the local anaesthetic, just the mental thought of some messing with my eyes whilst I'm awake has me twitchy.

Is it safe so say that the patient feels no part of this operation, and presumably vision during the operation is none existant?

You can see things, but you will be staring directly into a bright light, so most patients report seeing a kaleidoscopic effect of lots of weird colours and patters, whilst they have the op. Immediately post op you might not see that much, but over a few hours, it improves.

With regard to cataract treatment centers, I'm a bit dubious to be honest. We've had that foisted upon us by South African companies like Netcare, who did little more than was done at most NHS units, and moreover they didn't deal with non-routine cases or any of the complications they induced. It's far better to have a holistic approach from a good local eye unit than have it done in the back of a lorry by some surgeons who are in town for a brief time only.

[King Herald]

I've been led to believe that everybody has cataracts, just most are so tiny they are of no bother? Is that true, or drivel?

[968]

King Herald said:

I've been led to believe that everybody has cataracts, just most are so tiny they are of no bother? Is that true, or drivel?

Well everyone over the age of about 50 has some very early evidence of cataract. We all get them eventually. Our lenses change through our lives, as we pass our 40s it starts to harden and becomes resistant to changing it's shape, hence our arms need to be longer to read books etc, in the 50s cataract starts. It's only in our 70s that they usually start becoming visually significant.

[Simpo Two]

Is there anything that can be done to minimise or delay the risk/onset of cataracts?

My mother (87) has had both eyes done but unfortunately she was one of the unlucky 3% as, with the ataract out of the way, they then found that her vision was actually impaired by some kind of progressive dying off around the optic nerve - something to so with low blood pressure we're told, and untreatable. Now so bad she can barely see anything

[F i F]

Eldest bro has had this done under local and he recalled that on the first one the only bits of him touching the table were the back of his head and his heels, so I guess in his case it smarted a bit.

On the other hand his vision has gone from dubious, and as an ex class 1 plod that upset a lot him re his driving, to being pretty dam' spot on in middle and distance vision with just need for a simple pair of reading specs for close up.

He did consider this approach of one new lens being set up for distance vision, and one lens set up for close work, but decided against it. Apparently distance perception is still Ok as the brain somehow sorts it all out. Mind boggles frankly. Wonder what 968's views on that are? Maybe I have asked that before, sorry slept since then.

I'm dreading when/if I ever have to have mine done but so far, touch wood, no issues. Very squeamish about the eyes, even the puff of air during a routine eye test makes my eyes water really badly, sometimes even before the actual air shot. Dunno how would cope with lens replacement under local frankly, though the ability to do without specs for first time since about 8/9 yrs old would be ace.

[968]

Simpo Two said:

Is there anything that can be done to minimise or delay the risk/onset of cataracts?

My mother (87) has had both eyes done but unfortunately she was one of the unlucky 3% as, with the ataract out of the way, they then found that her vision was actually impaired by some kind of progressive dying off around the optic nerve - something to so with low blood pressure we're told, and untreatable. Now so bad she can barely see anything

Sounds like she had normal tension glaucoma or perhaps another acquired optic neuropathy, which is unfortunate. The cataract surgery will have made no difference to her as her visual problems are due to the transmission of signals from retina to brain, rather than light focusing.

Nothing can really be done to delay cataracts, other than staying away from strong sources of UV light, ie bright sunlight over many years can cause cataracts to occur more quickly. Vitamins/supplements etc are all snake oil and quackery I'm afraid, with regards to cataracts.

[968]

F i F said:

He did consider this approach of one new lens being set up for distance vision, and one lens set up for close work, but decided against it. Apparently distance perception is still Ok as the brain somehow sorts it all out. Mind boggles frankly. Wonder what 968's views on that are? Maybe I have asked that before, sorry slept since then.

I'm dreading when/if I ever have to have mine done but so far, touch wood, no issues. Very squeamish about the eyes, even the puff of air during a routine eye test makes my eyes water really badly, sometimes even before the actual air shot. Dunno how would cope with lens replacement under local frankly, though the ability to do without specs for first time since about 8/9 yrs old would be ace.

Yeah, you're describing monovision. Some patients can do quite well with this approach, however, some don't cope well. We tend to trial the patient with a contact lens for distance and one for near to see how the patient will cope pre op. If they are ok, we can try this approach.

Cataract surgery under local really isn't that bad, as I say, I do 99% of my ops under local, and patients usually don't have much of a problem other than the initial apprehension of surgery.

[Simpo Two]

968 said:

Sounds like she had normal tension glaucoma or perhaps another acquired optic neuropathy, which is unfortunate. The cataract surgery will have made no difference to her as her visual problems are due to the transmission of signals from retina to brain, rather than light focusing.

Indeed. And of course she keeps seeing TV adverts saying 'sight fixed for £399' and each time I have to explain to her it wouldn't work in her case. Heartbreaking really. Anyway, sorry OP for butting in, I'll now butt back out.

[LeighW]

RupertTheFridge said:

Have just been diagnosed with this @ 46, bit scary, and have been referred for surgery.

According to optician it is done under local anaesthetic!

Has anyone had it done, any good pointers/advice etc........

My sister had them at 39! She had them done, and now has excellent eye sight. The only downside is that the lenses they put in reflect the light, so now on photos taken with a flash, instead of red eye, you get green/white eye! You can sometimes see the reflection in the flesh too, which is pretty freaky, rather cat-like. HTH.