Cataract Surgery & Treatments

At the Florida Eye Center, the mutual decision to proceed with your cataract surgery is made with your doctor after he/she measures your vision, examines your eye(s), and listens to your description of the visual problems you are experiencing, determines the problem, and offers you a solution.

The great news is that with our modern medical technology at the Florida Eye Center, cataracts are routinely treated safely and effectively using advanced microsurgical techniques. Today, cataract treatment at the Florida Eye Center is one of the most successful surgical procedures in America. Almost 3 million will be done this year and about 98 percent of all cataract surgical procedures result in improved vision.

Today, cataract surgery is performed through a microscope with the assistance of several highly trained operating room personnel in a suite with specialized eye surgery equipment.

During the early stages of cataract changes, more frequent changes in your eyeglass prescription may help to restore adequate vision for awhile. But finally, new glasses will not help.

Surgery should be considered when the reduced vision caused by cataracts begins to interfere with normal daily activities such as reading and driving, even when corrective glasses are used.

Although the potential risks of surgery must be weighed against its potential benefits, delaying surgery can lead to increased chance of accidents when driving as well as personal injury such as falls.

In addition, we know that the longer you "put it off", the more difficult surgical removal of advanced cataracts is, compared to the easier and safer removal of less dense cataracts.

You may have other specific visual problems you want to discuss with your Florida Eye Center eye doctor.

Procedure

At Florida Eye Center, cataract removal is performed through a procedure called phacoemulsification. In this procedure, high-energy ultrasound waves are used to gently remove your cataract. In most cases, we use only eye drop anesthesia, allowing our patients the fastest possible recovery. It is the simplest, safest, and most successful cataract treatment.

Once the cloudy, human cataract lens is removed, a permanent, artificial lens custom ordered for you is inserted in its place. It is not uncommon for our patients to have the benefit of dramatically improved vision within a few hours of their procedure.

	Step 1: The first step is to make a small hole in the clear cornea. Then, we open the front of the capsule that holds the brown, natural lens or cataract.
	Step 2: The next step is to insert the small ultrasonic straw into the eye. The ultrasonic straw breaks up and liquefies the lens into tiny pieces and just like a straw, removes them.
	Step 3: A permanent, artificial lens ( lens implant ) is then folded and inserted into the eye through the straw opening.
	Step 4: The new lens then unfolds where your natural lens used to be. We make sure it is positioned, centered, checked and the opening is self-sealing and closes without needing stitches. The operation is over.

No Stitch Cataract Surgery

The good news is that the advanced cataract surgery at the Florida Eye Center is very simple, safe, and successful. The outpatient treatment is a highly effective way to restore lost reading, driving, and TV vision impaired by cataracts.

Dr. Sibley and Dr. Shriver perform stitchless cataract surgery with an advanced technique called phacoemulsification. In this technique, ultrasound is used to break up the cloudy cataract lens .It is then aspirated through a tiny straw. The doctor then implants the highest quality intraocular lens (clear artificial lens) that is custom ordered for each patient.

The micro-incision heals on its own, without requiring any stitches. Anesthetic eye drops or local anesthesia helps keep you comfortable during the procedure. We have a highly trained staff to monitor your condition and keep you comfortable the entire time.

There has never been a better time to have cataract surgery. Recent advances by the doctors at the Florida Eye Center have made the procedure more effective and more comfortable for you. It has never been simpler, safer, or more successful.