Your Guide to Cataract Surgery: Prep, Procedure, and Recovery

Cataracts can cloud the lens of the eye, gradually affecting vision and making daily life more challenging. If you’re living with cataracts, surgery may be suggested to help restore and maintain your vision.

At Ophthalmology Associates of Bay Ridge, our four experienced and compassionate providers offer cataract surgery and eye exams. We also treat conditions such as glaucoma, retinal diseases, and macular degeneration.

Preparing for cataract surgery

Before you undergo cataract surgery, we perform a detailed eye exam in the office. During the exam, we evaluate your eye health and look for conditions that could prevent you from having surgery.

We also evaluate your eyes for risk factors that could lead to complications and determine if you’ll need prescription eye drops afterward. Determining the focusing power of the new intraocular lens is another way we help you prepare for cataract surgery.

It’s important to ask us any questions you have at this appointment so you understand the procedure. Find someone to drive you home after surgery, as you won’t be able to do so yourself.

Discuss any medications you’re currently taking to see if you must stop any before surgery. Pick up necessary medications or eyedrops beforehand so you have them the day of the procedure.

Understanding the procedure

Before we start cataract surgery, we give you medication to relax you through an IV. We then numb your eyes with medicated drops so you don’t feel anything. You’ll be awake for the procedure, but should be relaxed and won’t see anything coming at your eyes.

At our practice, we use the LenSx® laser to gently make corneal incisions. This technology helps us be more precise than using manual methods and allows us to work efficiently in breaking up cloudy lenses.

Once the laser has made the incisions, ultrasound waves break up the damaged lenses, and we remove the broken lens through suction. We then place the intraocular lens into the same incision, allowing it to rest where the cloudy lens once was.

Eye protection is crucial after cataract surgery, so we place an eyepatch over the eye to keep it safe while it heals. The entire procedure takes about fifteen minutes, but the entire day, start to finish, may take several hours.

Recovering after surgery

After surgery, we monitor you for 30 minutes. We want to make sure you’re feeling well and that there are no complications. Before your driver takes you home to rest, you’ll schedule your follow-up appointment.

It’s completely normal for things to look a bit blurry right after cataract surgery. Your vision should begin to clear up over the next few days as your eye heals with the new lens.

Other short-term side effects may also appear, such as a gritty feeling in the eye, some redness, or more watering than usual. Doing your best to protect your eye until your follow-up visit really helps it heal well.

Contact us right away if you notice signs of infection, such as pus, a fever, or increased redness around the eye.

Most people fully recover from cataract surgery within a month. You should notice clearer vision within a few days after surgery. Continue using prescription eye drops after the procedure until we tell you to stop.

To schedule cataract surgery with our team, request an appointment at our Brooklyn, New York, office for an eye exam. You can also contact Ophthalmology Associates of Bay Ridge today or book your general eye exam online.