What problems may occur after cataract surgery?
What is the frequency of review?
A key question is how to review the patient after surgery. Generally, the doctor will perform slit lamp examination and intraocular pressure examination on the day after surgery to understand the patient’s corneal condition, inflammatory reaction and intraocular pressure. Most of the patients are stable, but a few patients have problems with IOP or severe inflammation and will be given special treatment. In addition, the doctor will arrange a review at one week after surgery. Most patients are very stable, but some elderly patients may use the wrong medication. The review will only involve a slit lamp and IOP check, and in rare cases, optometry or fundus examination. Patients should be aware that they should still use their medications normally on the day of the review and keep their eyes clean.
What eye drops should I use after surgery?
The two types of medications that must be used by cataract patients after surgery are anti-inflammatory and anti-infective medications. Anti-inflammatory medications will typically be prednisolone acetate or dexamethasone, consult your surgeon for the specific medication. Post-operative anti-infection is also very important. The most serious and scary thing for cataract surgery is the occurrence of endophthalmitis, so post-operative patients must use antibiotics carefully. As for the timing and reduction of these medications, consult your surgeon.
What should I pay attention to in my daily life after cataract surgery?
After cataract surgery, patients usually have a lot of questions about their daily life, such as whether they need to avoid eating, whether they can exercise, whether they can swim, and so on. The purpose of cataract surgery by doctors is to help patients improve their quality of life, not to bring all kinds of life troubles. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the diet after cataract surgery, we can eat whatever we want; there are no special requirements for sports, we can go out for a walk or go to the sun; as for whether we can swim, we need to consult the surgeon and confirm the time to start swimming, that is, let the surgeon confirm that the incision has grown well and there is no risk of infection before we start swimming. In addition, there are no special requirements for household chores. Many elderly people also have to help their families with cooking, which they can actually do on the first day after surgery.
Many patients are also concerned about the need to wear sunglasses after surgery. In fact, there is no requirement from the doctor in this regard, and it is entirely up to the patient’s preference. The doctor hopes to achieve the most ideal state is to be able to live a completely normal life after the surgery. If the patient feels more comfortable wearing teal glasses, they are allowed to wear them.
What problems may patients experience after surgery?
There are usually some problems after cataract surgery. The vast majority of cataract patients have more or less of these questions after surgery, so they need to be answered in a uniform manner. Common post-operative problems include: first, cloudy vitreous (mosquitoes); second, dry eyes with foreign body sensation; third, patients can’t see up close clearly after surgery; and fourth, blurred vision can occur again months or years after surgery.
How to treat mosquito flying after cataract surgery?
Why does mosquito flying occur after surgery?
The so-called mosquito flying syndrome is that patients feel some dotted or stick-like translucent black shadows floating in front of their eyes, many patients do not feel this way before surgery, but appear after surgery, thinking that it may be related to cataract surgery, but in fact it is not. Cataract surgery does not touch the vitreous body, so cataract surgery does not cause vitreous clouding and certainly does not cure it.
Why was it not detected before surgery?
Many patients ask: Why didn’t I feel this way before surgery? We can take a look at the picture below. As shown in the picture, the so-called flying mosquitoes are translucent short rod-shaped black shadows. The same black shadows do not look very clear on a blurred background, but after cataract surgery patients see the world more clearly and the background becomes brighter, and this time the black shadows become more obvious. Cataract patients should understand that what they want to see is clearer after surgery, and what they don’t want to see is also clearer.
How to cure flying mosquitoes?
Many patients feel that these small black dots floating around in front of their eyes is very disruptive to their lives and hope to find a solution. But mosquito flying syndrome is not an effective control method, it is a manifestation of each person’s body changes, just like gray hair and wrinkles, there is no way to change through their own efforts, we must learn to live in peace with mosquito flying syndrome. Patients can live a normal life if they don’t pay too much attention to these flying mosquitoes. Patients are advised not to look for these small black spots on white backgrounds or particularly bright places, and to focus on enjoying life above, flying mosquitoes usually have no effect on you.
How is dry eye treated?
After cataract surgery many patients feel dry eyes or even a foreign body sensation. We all know that as we age, there are many abnormalities in the eye surface of the elderly. Even without any history of eye surgery, most elderly people experience dry eyes, foreign body sensation, increased secretions and even transient blurred vision. Although cataract surgery is getting more and more mature and the incision is getting smaller and smaller, there is an incision after all, which has some effects on the function of the eye surface. In addition, the use of eye drops before and after surgery is also a kind of interference to the ocular surface. Therefore, it is normal for patients to have dry eye loading or aggravation of dry eye symptoms for a period of time before and after cataract surgery, and most patients will recover to the pre-operative state 1~2 months after surgery. However, if dry eye symptoms persist in some patients two to three months after surgery, medication can be used to relieve the symptoms, and artificial tears are commonly used. There are many different types of artificial tears, and it is always possible to find one that leaves the eye surface in a more comfortable state, and some patients require long-term use of artificial tears to relieve the symptoms of dry eyes.
Can I get rid of glasses completely after cataract surgery?
Some patients think that after cataract surgery, their eyes will return to the state they were in when they were young, and that they will be able to switch between seeing far and near freely, and that they will be so clear that they will not need to wear glasses anymore. However, we must tell you that the current medical technology is not yet able to achieve this, and we hope that this will be possible in the future. Most patients are operated with a monofocal IOL, which means that the focal length of the lens is only one. If the focal length is set farther away, it is not as clear to see closer or farther away than that focal length. Usually, the doctor will set the focal length to be clearer when the patient looks at a distance, so the patient does not need to wear glasses when looking at a distance after surgery, but will not be able to see clearly when looking at a close distance, such as reading a newspaper, and will need to use presbyopic glasses. Especially for patients who used to have myopia, before the surgery they did not need glasses to see far and read books and newspapers, but after the surgery they do not need to wear glasses to see far and need to wear them to see near, so this switch requires adaptation.
Some patients have heard that there is an IOL that can be used for both distance and near vision, and this is called a multifocal IOL. However, the visual effect that can be achieved with a multifocal IOL is not the same as when the patient was young. Usually, multifocal IOLs have two focal points, one for distance and one for near vision. However, it is up to the doctor to judge whether the patient can use multifocal IOLs, and patients who do not meet the requirements will have serious discomfort symptoms after using them, and their quality of life may even be worse than before the surgery, so they must follow the doctor’s advice.
Is it a relapse if I have lost my vision again after surgery?
Many patients ask their doctors, “I heard that cataracts can recur, is that true?” Actually, no. When vision loss occurs again months or even years after cataract surgery, it is not a recurrence of cataract, but a posterior cataract. Posterior cataract is a change in the capsule membrane preserved during the surgery. An intact capsule membrane is very important for cataract surgery and IOL implantation, but there are two sides to everything, and this deliberately preserved capsule membrane may become wrinkled or cloudy over time, and these changes may affect the patient’s vision and cause the patient’s vision to decline again. The treatment for this condition is completely different from cataracts. It only requires a laser to cut open the center of the capsule so that the middle becomes transparent and vision is restored, and the operation is very simple and can be done on an outpatient basis, so you should not have too much concern.