Risks during cataract surgery
Risks during, immediately after and within the first 24 hours after surgery: One week to one month after: Two to four months afterwards:
- Bleeding
- Bruise in the eye or blue eye
- Gap in the cornea caused by the incision
- Infection or internal eye inflammation
- Glaucoma (glaucoma)
- Pronounced astigmatism
- Retinal detachment
- Rupture of the rear capsule
- Displacement of the inserted intraocular lens in the eye
- Swelling of macular tissue (macula = place of sharpest vision on the retina)
- Secondary cataract
The duration of a cataract (cataract) depends considerably on the surgeon’s practice and varies – also depending on the complexity of the individual case – between 10 and 60 minutes, with an average of 20 minutes. One eye is operated on first and the other, if it is also affected by cataracts, is performed as a second operation some time later. During cataract surgery, a local anesthetic is usually given in the form of eye drops or eye gel.
An alternative is a conduction anesthesia, which also eliminates the protective reflexes of the eye and makes the eye completely motionless and painless. For very nervous people, the possibility of a general anesthesia should also be considered, but this is very hard on the body and should only be chosen in extreme cases. Another method used for local anesthesia in ophthalmology is retrobulbar anesthesia (RBA). Here, an anesthetic injection is given at the side of the eyeball, so that painlessness is also achieved during the operation. A very similar variation is parabulbar anesthesia (PBA), but with a shorter needle.
Laser surgery
Since 2004, the infrared femtosecond laser has been used in laser correction of defective vision of the eye. For cataract surgery today, the laser procedure means that the operation can be performed without the manual incision of a surgeon, which further reduces the complication rate. Thanks to image-supported computer control, the operation can be planned much better today. This increases the accuracy and predictability of the outcome of the operation. At a glance:
- Standardized, precise laser cuts
- Perfect opening of the lens capsule (capsulorhexis) and thus perfect fit of the new lens
- 40% less harmful energy in the eye
- More accurate results
- Less human error sources due to computer control
- Possible reductionCompensation of astigmatism
- Significantly fewer complications and side effects
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