Cataract Q & A

Dr. Vold answers common questions about cataract treatment and the unique approach that Vold offers patients.

• WHAT IS A CATARACT?

A cataract is a cloudy lens in your eye. It is like having a dirty windshield on your car. Even if you change your glasses, your vision is still going to be blurred until you wash your windshield. Cataracts are painless, but they can have a profoundly negative impact on vision thereby significantly reducing your quality of life.

• HOW ARE COMMON CATARACTS?

Very common. Almost everyone will eventually develop cataracts.  Studies show by age 65, over 90% of people in the U.S. have cataracts. In fact, an estimated 20.5 million Americans over age 40 are currently impacted by cataracts.

• IS CATARACT SURGERY SAFE?

Cataract surgery is the most commonly performed surgery in the U.S. It’s an outpatient procedure, and literally only takes a few minutes to complete in the hands of a skilled cataract surgeon. When utilizing cutting-edge technology, both safety and efficacy exceed 99% in most clinical studies. 

• WHEN SHOULD ONE SEEK TREATMENT?

When a patient loses their ability to read, drive or carry out other normal activities of daily living, we encourage patients to undergo an ophthalmic evaluation. With the amazing safety and efficacy of lens extraction, patients now are electing to proceed with cataract surgery much earlier than in the past.

• IS THERE A STANDARD TREATMENT APPROACH?

Every patient’s eyes are different.  From their health history, genetics, how progressed their cataracts are, if they have astigmatism or glaucoma and on and on.  Consequently, we prefer an individualized approach to caring for our patients.  We customize each procedure, each lens choice to the patient and their specific health needs and life needs. In patients with glaucoma, we can often get them off their glaucoma medication and enhance both their vision and control of their glaucomatous disease.

• WHAT ABOUT ASTIGMATISM?

You mentioned astigmatism. Is that something that can be addressed at the same time as cataract surgery? With advanced technology lenses, we can treat nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. Astigmatism is when your eye is shaped more like a football than a basketball. With specialized intraocular lenses called toric lenses or small corneal incisions performed with a laser, the quality of patient vision after surgery is dramatically better than what can be achieved with traditional manual cataract surgery. I personally would never let a family undergo cataract surgery without addressing astigmatism surgically.

• WHAT SHOULD ONE LOOK FOR IN A CATARACT SURGEON?

Pick a surgeon who is proven, and pick a center that has invested in the state-of-the-art technology.  Eyesight is a precious thing, and you want to make sure you are putting your trust in the right team. We also are a big believer in being the type of center that genuinely puts patient care first. As the old saying goes, no one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. 

• CAN YOU EXPLAIN INTEROPERATIVE ABBEROMETRY (ORA)?

During the patient’s initial in-office exam, our optical technician will perform eye measurements to allow us to place the perfect customized lens to be placed during surgery.  The accuracy of these tests play a key part in the patient’s visual outcome.  The challenge is they are done through the patient’s cloudy cataract lens.  This is where the ORA System Technology plays a significant role.  This sophisticated technology can easily measure the vision correction accuracy during surgery and after the cataract has been removed.  Having that information during the procedure makes it possible to fine-tune surgical adjustments and achieve results that exceed previously achievable optimal vision for the patient.

• WHAT IS THE MOST EXCITING ASPECT AFTER CATARACT SURGERY?

I think people are overwhelmed at the amazing quality of vision they achieve so quickly after cataract surgery. Many of our patients see 20/20 or better on the first day after cataract surgery. Furthermore, they are stunned at how rapidly they can return to their normal activities. Most people return to work within a day or two of their cataract surgeries.