Not Greedy, Just Wants Second Eye Surgery

Would you like to know the most impossible patients for an eye surgeon to manage? It's not whom you might expect:

• Not a screaming, cross-eye child
  
• Not a 'high maintenance' plastics patient
  
• Certainly not the bogus disability applicant
  

The most challenging individual is a satisfied postop cataract surgery patient after having the FIRST eye treated.

They had no idea they could see that well again. To them it's miraculous. A day earlier they couldn't drive, couldn't read comfortably. Can you see what's coming?

"Doctor, when can I have my other eye done?"

There are no absolute rules, but the first eye ought to completely heal before tackling the second eye. This means no inflammation, full visual recovery and good eye comfort.

The patient's vision on Day 1 postop doesn't mean much to a surgeon. It's the vision on Day 42 (six weeks down the road) where valid, long-term results are assessed.

Long ago there were some surgeons who operated on both eyes during the same procedure. It only took one infection (wiping out vision in both eyes) to get most ophthalmologists to reconsider that approach!

Three months is a safe timetable for the second operation, but satisfied patients are not always patient patients. Now that they have experienced the clear, bright and colorful new world after cataract surgery they are eager to fix the fellow eye.

Truthfully, it's a wonderful dilemna to be confronted with happy patients who want to have more surgery. Even so, there's no guarantee that the second operation will achieve the same results. It's smart to approach each procedure independently, reviewing the justification for surgery, recalculating the precise focusing power of the intraocular lens, and carefully reassessing the preop eye for the patient heading back for a second cataract procedure.

If your local eye surgeon makes you wait before proceeding with a repeat operation on the fellow eye don't be discouraged. Your ophthalmologist wants you to have every chance for another excellent outcome. Who could argue with that?

Related Topics: Cataract Prevention, Eyes and Age

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