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Cataract surgery one of the safest routine procedures. Most senior surgeons have done performed the surgery thousands of times. However, like any other surgery, it comes with some risks:

If you have cataracts in both eyes, you’ll need two separate surgeries. Typically, you’ll have the procedures about two to four weeks apart. This way, the first eye has time to heal. Your vision can return in the first eye before the second surgery.

It is a convention that both eyes are not operated simultaneously in adult cataract. But it can be operated may be the next day, after a week or three weeks.

You may need cataract surgery if cataracts are causing vision problems that interfere with your activities such as driving or reading.

Your provider also may need to remove a cataract to see the back of your eye and help manage other eye conditions, such as:

• Age-related changes in the retina (the tissue at the back of the eye).
• Diabetes-related retinopathy, an eye condition affecting people with diabetes.

When you first notice cataract symptoms, a new prescription for eyeglasses or contact lenses might help. But cataracts usually get worse over time. Eventually, you and your ophthalmologist may decide to do cataract surgery to help you see well enough to do all the things you want to do and need to do.

Cataracts are not an emergency and you can wait to have the surgery until it’s best for you. But with symptoms affecting your daily life routines, it is better to get the surgery sooner than later.

Cataracts and cataract surgery are very common in older adults. Cataract surgery is the most common surgical procedure performed in medicine.

Cataract surgery is painless as it is done under anaesthesia induced by either eye drops or a local injection. Some patients do experience some amount of discomfort during cataract surgery, but for most patients the procedure is painless. The eye surgeons take the utmost precautions to make sure that the pain is minimal. Patients are given oral medications before the procedure so that they do not experience any discomfort.

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Cataract surgery is a day care procedure, so you go home shortly after the surgery. You’ll need someone to come with you who can drive you home.

Here’s what to expect during the surgery:

• Numbing medication: Your provider numbs the eye with drops or an injection. You may also get medication to help you relax. You will be awake during the surgery and see light and movement. But you won’t see what the ophthalmologist is doing to your eye. The surgery won’t hurt.
• Cataract removal: Your provider uses a special microscope to see your eye. He/she creates tiny incisions to reach the lens. Then as ultrasound waves are used to break up the lens and remove it. Finally, the new lens is placed.
• Recovery: You won’t need stitches. The tiny incisions close by themselves. Your provider will tape a shield (like an eye patch) over your eye to protect it.

Cataract surgery is the best and the only treatment available for cataracts. The modern cataract surgery entails the use of cutting-edge advanced laser technology, imaging and phacoemulsification vision systems that have a high rate of success. During the early stages, your eye doctor may suggest a change in glasses to improve your vision.

The actual cataract removal only takes a few minutes. The entire procedure often takes less than 20 to 30 minutes but post-operative treatment can take up to an hour or so.

Most people go home within about 30 minutes after the surgery. You can typically remove the eye shield by the next day, although you may need to wear it while you sleep. You will need to use special eye drops for about four weeks after surgery.

It can take a few days to weeks for your vision to clear up. Other temporary side effects include:

• Blurred or double vision
• Gritty feeling in your eyes
• Red or bloodshot eyes
• Watery eyes

Cataract surgery is the only way to get rid of a cataract and sharpen your eyesight again. No other medicines or eye drops are proven to improve cataracts.

Cataract surgery has a very high success rate in improving people’s eyesight. After surgery, you can expect to:

• See things clearer
• Have less glare when you look at bright lights
• Tell the difference between colours

You may notice that your vision becomes cloudy or blurry after your cataract surgery — even months or years after the procedure. Ophthalmologists call this posterior capsular opacification, or PCO, and it’s normal. It’s also called a secondary cataract.

PCO happens because a membrane called the posterior capsule becomes cloudy. The posterior capsule once held your eye’s lens and now holds the intraocular lens in place.

If your vision starts to blur again, you may need a posterior capsulotomy (laser procedure) to restore your vision. A laser makes an opening in the cloudy capsule. This procedure can give you clearer vision again.

Although it can take up to four to six weeks to fully recover from cataract surgery, most people will notice their vision begins to improve much sooner and, typically, there should little pain or discomfort during this period. During the days and weeks that follow surgery, follow your provider’s instructions to:

• Use eye drops as directed
• Use your eye shield, pad and eyeglasses
• Read, watch TV and use the computer as usual
• Use sunglasses when going outside
• Resume your activities and routine

Don’t

• Rub or press the eye
• Get water or soap in the eye
• Do strenuous activities
• Use eye makeup for one week
• Drive until your provider gives you the all-clear
• Swim for two weeks after surgery
• Fly without getting the all-clear from your provider

You'll need to wait until your eye has healed completely after cataract surgery, which usually happens about two to four weeks after surgery. You'll probably need a new prescription.

Cataract surgery is a safe, routine procedure. But like any surgery, it comes with risks, including:

• Eye infection, bleeding or swelling
• Retinal detachment, when the retina separates from the back of the eye
• Damage to other parts of the eye
• Ongoing eye pain
• Blurred vision or vision loss
• Visual disturbances, such as glare, halos and shadows
• IOL becoming dislocated and moving out of place

No, cataract surgery can’t help restore vision due to problems from other eye conditions such as:

• Diabetes-related retinopathy
• Glaucoma
• Macular degeneration

If you have cataracts in both eyes, you’ll need two separate surgeries. Typically, you’ll have the procedures about two to four weeks apart. This way, the first eye has time to heal. Your vision can return in the first eye before the second surgery.