Cataract Surgery Process

Initial office visit

• Once your family doctor or optometrist fax a referral letter to Dr. Lane’s, you will receive an appointment for consultation. 
• Dr. Lane will examine your eyes to see if you are a good candidate for cataract surgery. He will discuss the risks and benefits of the procedure with you. A date and time for the surgery will be given to you on this day. 
• You will sign a consent form for surgery. 
• You will receive a green form for your family doctor to fill out. 
• You will receive yellow form for you to fill out, regarding your health. 
• Keep this form handy, as you will receive a call a phone call from a pre-op clinic nurse at the Ross Memorial Hospital to review this information. Please have this information ready for the call.

Day of surgery

You should not eat or drink after midnight before the day of surgery. You may take all your medications on the morning of surgery with a small sip of water. You come to the EYE CENTRE at the Ross Memorial Hospital at the planned time. A nurse will make sure your paper work is in order and will prepare you for surgery.

• An anaesthetist will talk to you before the procedure to review your medications and general health. You will be given intravenous relaxing medicines to make you feel relaxed during the procedure. There is no pain.
• After the surgery, you will taken to the recovery room for about 20 mins. Then you will taken back to the original waiting room for a snack before leaving.
• You be given a prescription for eye drops, and an appointment for the following day at Dr. Lane’s office.

1 Day post-op office visit

In the morning, you take off the eye shield and start the drops yourself. You will see Dr. Lane in his office so that he can check your eye. A 1 week appointment will be made.

• Zymar 4x/day until next appointment
• Prednisolone every 2 hrs while awake until next appointment

1 week appointment

Dr. Lane will perform a final check on your eye, and you will receive information on how to taper your drops. At this point you should make an appointment with your optometrist in about 1 month for new glasses

• Zymar stop
• Prednisolone
  4x/day for 1 week, then
  3x/day for 1 week, then
  2x/day for 1 week, then
  1x/day for 1 week, then stop
  

4-6 week optometrist visit

Your optometrist will check your eyes and prescribe new glasses

Laser after cataract surgery

The modern cataract surgery methods allow the implant to rest in the clear bag that used to hold your cataract. Sometimes the cataract leaves a “haze” on this bag, which can be cleared easily with a laser. Also, even if the bag is initially clear, with time, it can become hazy.

The laser is also done at the EYE CENTRE at the Ross Memorial hospital. There are no restrictions before the laser and no restrictions after the laser. The laser takes about 30 seconds to 1 minute to perform. It is painless.