Comparing Laser Cataract Surgery to Traditional Cataract Surgery

Dr. Edward Hedaya and the InVision Eyecare team are pleased to offer a new and exciting alternative to traditional cataract removal: laser cataract surgery. Traditional cataract surgery is a safe, effective and common procedure; however, incorporating a laser enhances the safety and accuracy. Let’s take a more detailed look at both procedures, and discuss why laser cataract surgery is preferable in many cases.  

Similarities

Both laser cataract surgery and traditional cataract surgery have the same goal: gently break up the clouded cataractous lens, remove the pieces from the eye and replace the lens with an intraocular lens to restore focusing power and clear vision.

The laser and traditional forms of cataract surgery are both performed on an outpatient basis at a local surgery center. Patients generally recover quickly and are able to return to their regular routine a day or two after their procedure.

Differences

During traditional cataract removal, our surgeons use hand-held surgical instruments like forceps and blades. Laser cataract surgery involves replacing these instruments with a computer-guided femtosecond laser to complete key steps of the procedure. First, the laser is used to make entry incisions into the eye. Then, it is used to remove the front portion of the lens capsule so the surgeon can access the cataract. Finally, laser energy softens and breaks up the clouded lens before the fragments are removed from the eye.

Why Laser Cataract Surgery Has the Advantage

The primary advantage of laser cataract surgery is that it enhances the precision and accuracy of cataract removal. Keep in mind that eyes share the same basic anatomy, but everyone’s eyes are slightly different in size, depth, corneal curvature and other factors. Traditional cataract surgery doesn’t account for these differences. With laser cataract surgery, our surgeons use sophisticated mapping technology to obtain data about a patient’s unique eye characteristics. Then, this digital information is used to carefully calibrate the laser used in the procedure for more accurate results.

Some of the other important advantages of the procedure include the following:

• The laser is able to create precision entry incisions that are more likely to heal quickly and without complications.
• Using a laser to remove the front portion of the lens capsule reduces the risk of damaging the lens capsule. This step must be done carefully so that the lens capsule can hold the artificial lens implant.
• With a laser, our surgeons can minimize the use of ultrasound energy to remove the clouded lens. This reduces the risk of injuring the tissues inside the eye.  

Learn More about Laser Cataract Surgery

If you’d like more information about laser cataract removal, please contact InVision Eyecare by calling (732) 210-0140 or sending us an email. A member of our team would be happy to discuss the procedure in detail.