Due to advances in both technology and techniques, cataract surgery has become a quick, simple outpatient procedure that can be performed in the doctor's office. Through a tiny incision, a special instrument disintegrates the clouded lens, which can then be vacuumed out of the membrane that holds it. The replacement lens is very flexible and can be folded to fit through another small incision. Once inside the eye, it unfolds and is placed into the membrane.

In some cases, the membrane that holds the replacement lens may become clouded after cataract surgery. If so, it is a simple procedure to use a laser beam to cut a hole in the membrane and restore clear vision.

Refractive Lensectomy

Most people will develop cataracts as they age and will require cataract surgery. Before the lens is significantly clouded, it will become more rigid and lose some of its ability to focus at middle and near distances. Based on many years of successful cataract surgery, ophthalmologists are now replacing lenses before cataracts are fully developed, a procedure called refractive lensectomy. Since cataracts are inevitable for most people, this preemptive surgery makes sense, eliminating the gradual worsening of vision experienced by most people.

Posterior Capsulotomy

A posterior capsulotomy is a non-invasive laser procedure to eliminate the cloudiness that sometimes interferes with vision after cataract surgery. During the surgery, the cataract is removed from a thin membrane that holds it, know as the capsule, and the new lens is placed in the capsule. Some patients later developed cloudiness in the rear portion of the capsule. To remedy this, your surgeon can use a special laser to create a hole in the capsule, restoring clear vision.

A capsulotomy takes only a few minutes, and the results are immediate.