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I wanted to describe a few of the potential complications that can happen during Cataract
Surgery. None of us like to think about complications of surgery, but we have to acknowledge that
surgery is surgery, therefore, there are variables. What we try to do during cataract surgery,
as in any procedure, is we try to reduce the number of variables so the potential for complications
is minimized. But we still have to acknowledge there are some. If you look at the cataract
procedure, and I don't want to get too graphic, but we do want to talk about the steps. The
first part of the procedure, if you picture as I describe over and over, a cataract is
being shaped like an M&M candy. The first step of the procedure is to remove the front
surface of that M&M shell and then the second step is to actually vacuum out the cataract
here. One of the risks that we run in doing cataract surgery (which is quite rare and
with a decent surgeon probably happens one time in a year, maybe every other year) is
while we're working in this M&M shell (as I like to describe it), the M&M shell, if
it's fragile (and it's extremely fragile), can actually break and when the M--if you
picture now the M&M shell where the back side of it is, has a tear in it, then the implant
that we want to put inside of that shell is not supported as well, so we have to put it
in the eye in a little bit different manner. Now the results are still great, but sometimes
the type of implant has to be adjusted because of that little rupture in the membrane. Another
potential complication, which thankfully is very rare, and that's the risk of infection.
The risk of infection is estimated to be about one in every five to ten-thousand procedures,
and that's really good. We try to make it zero, but still it's surgery. The things that
help us avoid infection are doing this procedure in a sterile environment (which we do) using
obviously sterile equipment, doing very good surgical steps, surgical procedures, and then
we use very good, the most powerful antibiotic eye drops in the world the night before surgery
and for about a week after surgery and they tend, that tends to minimize the risk of infection.
If we happen to get an infection, then the trick is to identify it early. We can generally
identify it pretty quickly and then we step up the antibiotics and we eliminate it that
way. Very rarely, I think I've had two patients in the last decade that have, need a second
procedure in order to improve the infection. So again, we try to minimize that. Other minor
risks are on the surface of the eye. There's some irritability in the surface from where
we do the little incision, but otherwise cataract procedure is known as the safest procedure,
really, of any surgery. There are millions and millions of cataracts done every year
and it's extremely safe and extremely predictable. Again, we try to reduce variables so we reduce
potential complications. Again though, we're still human beings, and so am I, so things
happen. Good surgical technique helps to get us ahead of it.