Why Cataract Surgery?

It is another beautiful day today and a great weekend, one that has been full of relaxation at my end and hopefully at your end too, the days seem to be going very slow for this month of January but can we complain? Nature is taking its course.

So today i am here again to share my ocular health knowledge with you as a professional optometrist working under the allied health regulation in Ghana. So far we have had the opportunity to look at many conditions and discuss many theories and today i am going to be convincing you to get cataract surgery done when necessary.

There are so many myths and wrongful thoughts or information shared across various platforms as well as from people to people when it comes to surgery and it gets worse when we focus on the eye. From my part of the world and in lots of African countries the mention of surgery even in the consulting room is enough to loss a patient.

He or she may never visit your facility again because you mentioned surgery as a possible means of resolving whatever problems they may have presented with and so it becomes a special challenge for healthcare providers when we have to convince our patients to get a surgical procedure done because it is the best option available for them even if it has the highest prognosis.

This the routine i go through everyday at my facility, Westphalian medical center here in Effiduase a part of Ashanti Region in Ghana. On an average day we see to about 3o or 40 patients with eye needs and out of these about 50% present with cataract which may require surgery then or within the very near future. And so everyday in the consulting room is a day for convincing patients to get cataract extraction surgery done.

And so i decided to share the information i normally give my patients to convince them here with you just incase any of you my dear readers may be having some wrong ideas or information about the surgery and also to give you that confidence to go in for it should you ever need it in the future.

Now, i have spoke about cataract here before however for the benefits of my new readers let get to know what it is actually. When we talk about cataract, we are talking about this ocular condition where the crystalline lens in the eye which under normal circumstances ought to be very transparent becomes opaque.

The transparency enables light to pass through it as it is focused by the cornea as well as the lens itself for proper position on to the retina for phototransduction and vision to occur. When this lens starts to become opaque thus cataractous, it disperses light more as it passes through it and most patients then start to report glare, reduced contrast sensitivity and a reduction in vision generally.

The opacification of the lens happens due to a variety of reasons, the most common ones been as a result of aging due to the physiology of the lens and the others been due to trauma, conditions such as rubella may bring about congenital cataract and the use of steroids could also bring about cataract. Diabetes is known to quickly acceleration cataract development and progression too.

So i have cataract, what next? Well first and foremost after your cataract diagnosis by your optometrist, he or she would ascertain as to whether your cataract is matured enough to be operated one, in the western part of the world, cataract diagnosis would warrant automatic removal however over here lots of factors would have to be considered so as to give the patient reassurance as well as enable other patients to also partake.

Cataracts are mostly removed only when they have matured so that patients could appreciate the surgical procedure and the impact it had on their vision better, if your optometrist thinks the changes in your lens is not substantial for a surgical procedure you may be given lenses or spectacles to help counteract the effects on your vision that the lens changes may have brought to your vision.

You may also be given nutritional supplements for the eye to help with the oxidation process in the eye since research has shown that it contributes immensely to cataract formation in the lens. If however, your Optometrist warrants cataract surgery for you, then do not hold back or be afraid, instead allow the surgery to be done for you as it would benefit you.

Cataract extraction surgery has come a long way and has been perfected now with the aid of tech and new techniques. The most common procedure used by most ophthalmologists now is the phacoemulsification which make use of a corneoscleral incision and hydrodissection to emulsify the nucleus of the lens. Your cataractous lens is then replaced with an IOL after everything is out.

The Procedure allows for little to no astigmatism after surgery and vision is drastically improved. Cataract surgery is a walk is procedure and only requires local anesthesia, which means you do not have to be asleep for it to be done, and once it is done you can go back home. The procedure doesn't take much time and for a skilled surgeon, you should be done i about 20 to 30 minutes.

Not a single case of cataract surgery killing someone has been recorded and the prognosis as i mentioned earlier is very good. You may under go an A-scan and a B-scan to ascertain the integrity of the retina especially if your cataract was mature such that ophthalmoscopy was impossible and also to determine the power of the new lens you may need to be placed n your eyes.

You have absolutely nothing to fear when it comes to cataract surgery, the procedure is quite simple, a walk in procedure and you not need to be hospitalized and you get to use your eyes again in less than 24 hours. And so do not be afraid. Always as i say, when i doubt seek the counsel of a professional.

Please tend to have wrong information which could have negative impact on you as individuals, remember early action saves not only sight but lives, have regular examinations and stay healthy as well. Avoid over the counter medication without prescription and i wish you the best quality of life and sight. Thanks for your time and for reading.