In this Article

• What is a cataract?
• What are the symptoms of cataracts?
• How are cataracts diagnosed?
• Who is a candidate for cataract surgery?
• What are the different types of cataract surgery?
• What are the different types of intraocular lenses implanted after cataract surgery?
• What should one expect prior to and on the day of cataract surgery?
• What should one expect after the cataract surgery?
• What are potential complications of cataract surgery?
• Cataracts At A Glance
• Patient Discussions: Cataract Surgery - Describe Your Experience
• Cataract Surgery Index

What are the different types of cataract surgery?

The standard cataract surgical procedure is performed in a hospital or in an ambulatory surgery center. The most common form of cataract surgery today is a process called phacoemulsification. With the use of an operating microscope, your surgeon will make a very small incision in the surface of the eye in or near the cornea. A thin ultrasound probe, which is often confused for a laser, is inserted into the eye and uses ultrasonic vibrations to dissolve (phacoemulsify) the clouded lens. These tiny fragmented pieces are then suctioned out through the same ultrasound probe. Once the cataract is removed, an artificial lens is placed into the thin capsular bag that the cataract occupied. This lens is essential to help your eye focus after surgery.

There are three basic techniques for cataract surgery:

1. Phacoemulsification: This is the most common form of cataract removal as explained above. In this most modern method, cataract surgery can usually be performed in less than 30 minutes and usually requires only minimal sedation and numbing eye drops, no stitches to close the wound, and no eye patch after surgery.

2. Extracapsular cataract surgery: This procedure is used mainly for very advanced cataracts where the lens is too dense to dissolve into fragments (phacoemulsify). This technique requires a larger incision so that the cataract can be removed in one piece without being fragmented inside the eye. An artificial lens is placed in the same capsular bag as with the phacoemulsification technique. This surgical technique requires a various number of sutures to close the larger wound, and visual recovery is often slower. Extracapsular cataract extraction usually requires an injection of numbing medication around the eye and an eye patch after surgery.

3. Intracapsular cataract surgery: This surgical technique requires an even larger wound than extracapsular surgery, and the surgeon removes the entire lens and the surrounding capsule together. This technique requires the intraocular lens to be placed in a different location, in front of the iris. This method is rarely used today but can be still be useful in cases of significant trauma.

Cataract Surgery - Describe Your Experience

The MedicineNet physician editors ask:

Please describe your Cataract Surgery experience.

Anonymously share your comment to help others.
See 5 Viewer Comments

Submit Your Comment

From the Doctors at MedicineNet.com

Diabetes - Information on Diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus) including types, causes, symptoms of diabetes, medications, and treatment. Produced by the doctors of MedicineNet.com Source:MedicineNet Retinal Detachment - Learn the signs, symptoms (floaters), statistics, causes, treatment (surgery) and risk factors (severe myopia, cataract surgery) of detached retinas. Source:MedicineNet Floaters - Seeing spots? Learn the causes of eye floaters, the shapes they take and what they look like. Read about removal and treatment (laser), and find out if they're dangerous. Source:MedicineNet Read 12 more Cataract Surgery related articles ... So Much to Do, So Little Sleep Head Injuries All Too Common in Summer Play Health Tip: The Word on Wisdom Teeth Health Tip: Make Exercise a Daily Habit New Source of Heart Stem Cells Found Health Highlights: June 23, 2008 Poorer Patients Have Poorer Survival After Cancer Diagnosis One Gene May Be Key to Myeloma Crocodile Babies Cry Out for Hatching Immune Molecule Key to Preventing Organ Rejection