Cataracts Common in Seniors
Add comment September 20th, 2009
My father has known for many years that he had cataracts. As this is a very common problem for older adults–in fact, many sources claim that over 50% of persons over the age of 65 have cataracts–his diagnosis didn’t concern any of us. Over time, he needed “stronger” prescriptions in his glasses and he admitted it was hard to see at night while driving. It wasn’t until he announced he couldn’t read those big green street signs mounted on traffic lights that I got nervous about these cataracts. Although he knew all about the surgery, my dad didn’t seem very motivated to get the surgery. Perhaps he was recalling the days of my grandfather’s cataract surgery in the 1970’s: lengthy surgery, huge eye patches, special glasses, all sorts of eye drops, issues with sight. Perhaps he just didn’t think his eyesight was “bad” enough to warrant surgery. Thankfully, after realizing those big green signs were no longer visible to him, he finally agreed to go forth and schedule his cataract surgery.
Cataracts are the clouding of the eye lens. Surgery is performed to replace the clouded lens with an artificial lens.  Usually a pretty simple procedure, the surgery lasts 30 minutes or less and is completed on an out-patient basis. My dad was scheduled to have one eye done first and the other done a week later. All my dad had to do was show up for pre-op as scheduled, receive an I.V. with a local anesthesia (the “twilight” medication, he reported), get his eye numbed and immobilized, and be done with the actual cataract surgery within 15 minutes. No stitches, no eye patch, no lengthy recovery. My mom drove him home, where he promptly returned to playing games on the computer. Rest, relaxation, eye drops and not touching his eye was about the only concerns he faced. He was delighted to report he could see very clearly after surgery and made sure to rub it in that he no longer needed his glasses to see. I’m guessing that he wishes he would have had the surgery sooner.
Cataract surgery is usually very safe and has little risk; however, there are always risks involved with surgery. Not to scare anyone, but my dad did experience a medical issue while having one of his eye surgeries: his blood pressure plummeted and they were unable to continue with the surgery until he was stabilized. Because he was in a surgical setting, surrounded by medical professionals, he was in safe hands. When asked later about this, he replied “it was no big deal.”
Now that the cataracts have been removed, he won’t have to worry about them re-developing. He still needs glasses to read small print, but he is still glasses-free for everything else. I’m happy to report that the man who waited until he couldn’t read street signs is now trying to convince me that I need to have eye surgery so I don’t need glasses.
