Your eyes are your inlet for seeing and observing the things around you. They help you see, enjoy and absorb the beauty of colors and help you do all the things you want to. But if your eyes are not giving you the right image as an input, how are you going to do the required tasks with ease? Wondering what is cataracts surgery?
The cataracts are one such thing that makes the vision blur for the effected person and the cataracts surgery is the only solution for the betterment of it. The lens in your eyes, is meant to refract the incoming rays of the light and further create the image so that you can see, but with the cataracts condition, the lens of the eye becomes blurry and a cloudy or foggy image is formed.
What is a cataracts surgery?
During the cataracts surgery, the cloudy lens of the eye is removed by the ophthalmologist and the new, clear and artificial lens is put on to the eye. If your lens becomes cloudy once, the surgery is the only treatment you require.
This surgery is a pretty common one, and once it is done, you get to see things better around you.
What are the symptoms of cataracts?
On the initial stage of cataracts, a person might not be recommended to go for the surgery because, in the beginning, the people get to see properly even with the help of better lighting and a pair of glasses with magnifying properties.
But gradually, as the cataracts grow, the effected person feels a lot of trouble in seeing properly. Other than having a blurred vision, you can start having a double vision, you can have trouble reading the book, you can have issues with eyes on using the computer and even the night vision could get effected for many.
The task of driving could become really challenging for you especially at the night time. you could get glare in the sunlight and afterwards, a halo would start forming around the things that you see.
At that time, when you consult your eye specialist, you would be advised to go for the cataracts surgery to avoid further harm to your eyes.
On the other hand, for some people, the cataract might exist in the eye but does not bother at all, still the doctor might suggest them to get a cataracts surgery. The reason is that the mere existence of the cataracts could get quite heavy for the eye and could build a pressure that would disturb the normal sight as well.
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So how to get prepared for a cataracts surgery?
The doctor will plan your surgery with you and for that, he will call you to get the size of your eye so that he can prepare the lens and decide the best artificial lens option for you.
For the preparation of the surgery, it is expected that the doctor might tell you, not to eat or drink anything for about 12 hours before the procedure.
How painful is the cataracts surgery?
The cataracts surgery is not painful at al. it is a very comfortable surgery and even after the surgery, the patient does not feel anything but a slight pressure on the eye for the initial days and later gets used to it. The surgeon might use some local anesthesia in order to perform the procedure and this is using done with the help of eye drops.
For some cases, they might require to apply anesthesia in the form of a block around the eye. Whatever the case be, it is not problematic or painful at all. If the patients like to stay asleep during the surgery, they are also offered to get a general anesthesia.
How much does the cataracts surgery cost in USA?
According to the analysis report of the year 2017, the average basic laser cataract surgery cost in the U.S. ranged from $3,600 to $6,000 per eye, and only if you paid everything yourself.
If you go for an advanced technology lens, along with the corrects astigmatism, there’s usually an additional $500 or $1,000 cost per eye.
Then there is a multifocal lens option as well. and for these lens there are extra costs ranging from $1,500 to $4,000.
These are the cataracts surgery cost for the year 2017 and they are specifically for the people of USA. They might change for the other people, living outside of USA.
What is the cataracts surgery recovery time?
You might be wondering what the ideal cataracts surgery recovery time is, for the people of all ages. Well, if you are following all the tips and the post-surgery instructions given by the doctor, there is a fat chance that you would even notice the recovery procedure.
It is a painless recovery that helps you heal gradually and you have to make sure that you are attending all the sessions with the doctors as advised and you are following all the instructions properly. There is a long list of instructions that is given to the patients after the surgery that helps them know what to do and how to take good care of themselves to get a speedy recovery.
The recovery time may vary for every person as everyone responds differently to the treatment and healing. Many people start seeing clearly right after the eye piece is removed, while some might have a blurry and wavy vision for several hours after the cataracts surgery.
This could happen as the new artificial lens, starts getting used to the natural eye structure or it could be due to the anesthesia given to the patient during the surgery.
Some people might take a week or even two to recover from these blurry and wavy images, while some might start seeing sharpest images right after they open their eyes. There is no need to worry as for everyone, there is a different cataracts surgery recovery time.