Cataract Surgery

Cataract surgery is an outpatient procedure that will often take less than twenty to thirty minutes to complete. Your time at the outpatient facility will only take a few hours. When you arrive, your eyes may be treated with eye drops and anesthetic to minimize any discomfort during the operation.

During this routine operation, after you are relaxed and the eye is made numb, a small incision is made into the eye. Your surgeon will use a tiny instrument to remove your clouded lens. This can usually be done with an ultrasonic instrument that breaks up and gently removes your cloudy lens, called phacoemulsification.

Many people who need cataract surgery also have other eye conditions, such as age-related macular degeneration or glaucoma. If you have other eye conditions in addition to cataract, talk with your doctor. Learn about the risks, benefits, alternatives, and expected results of cataract surgery.

Doctors Moraitis, Bredvik, and Hanson perform this surgery at either Baystate Medical Center, Surgery Center of New England, or Cataract and Laser Center West depending on their privileges, your insurance, and the equipment needed.

Lens Options: Standard and Premium

If you are considering cataract surgery, there are many exciting new lens technologies available. Cataract surgery involves removal of the natural lens of the eye and replacement with an artifical intraocular lens, abbreviated IOL.

Standard IOLs, which have been used for the past 30 years, are single-focus. For instance, people who elect to have their vision focused for distance without glasses will still need reading glasses.

New advances in IOL design now allow people to achieve better distance and near vision with less need for glasses. Springfield Eye Associates is pleased to offer this new technology for patients in the appropriate situations. In particular, the Alcon Acrysof Toric IOL has astigmatism correction built into the lens itself, and corrects mild to moderate amounts of astigmatism.

Your doctor can determine if you would be a good candidate for any of these specialty IOLs. This can help evaluate which IOL will suit your lifestyle. Additional costs associated with these IOLs are usually not covered by medical insurance.