How
does no stitch, no needle, no patch, and no bleeding sound
for cataract surgery? You might ask does it hurt or how does
the ophthalmologist anesthetize the eye? We just use numbing
drops and the same solution inside the eye. There will be
some IV sedation as needed also. The surgery can be done through
your local hospital or surgery center in Tullahoma, Shelbyville,
Fayetteville or Winchester. With the Eye Care Center we still
accept insurance or Medicare with supplement payment, but
you might need a referral from your eye doctor or physician.
We are quite proud of our working relationship with optometrists
and would manage your case in concert with them.
Before
we put the cart before the horse, a cataract is a clouding
of the naturally-occurring lens that typically can interfere
with night driving early on in the process of progression.
Cataracts don't necessarily affect only older folks, but in
cases of trauma, use of predisone medication, multiple medical
problems, and family history, there can be cataracts at an
early age.
We
typically try conservative treatment such as a change in glasses
to improve the vision first. If glasses haven't improved the
vision, then surgery may be necessary. |
At
the time of surgery, the cataract is replaced by a man-made
plastic lens that typically is foldable to keep the wound
small. Any astigmatism is usually also reduced with the placement
of the wound. This usually allows for vision after surgery
that is more independent of glasses.
Also,
Eye Care Center ophthalmologist, Dr.
Hunter Norris, has implanted
several of the first generation bifocal implants known as
the Array and most recently many of the second generation
bifocal implants called the Alcon Restore. These types
of implants, which are not covered by Medicare and require extra
payment by Medicare beneficiaries beyond what Medicare pays
for surgery, are designed to enable the patient to see well
far away and equally as well up close without glasses. However,
there are other bifocal implants that will be released soon
onto the market as well. Also, the new Alcon Infinity
Cataract Removal System, which uses phacoemulsification in a
torsional mode as well as a traditional longitudinal mode, allows
surgeons to remove cataracts in actually four different settings
depending on the severity of the cataract itself. This
Infinity machine is one of the few in the area recently purchased
by the Tullahoma Surgery Center.” |
