Cataract Surgery – Leesburg, Eustis, Clermont

The team at Total Eye Care Center invites you to learn more about cataracts, a condition that clouds the eye’s natural lens. We want our patients to understand their treatment options, such as cataract surgery, in Leesburg, Eustis, and Clermont.

DR. CRAIG D. FISHMAN: Cataract surgery is for anyone where they have obstruction of their vision from the natural crystalline lens. The lens itself discolors as we get older. It hardens. It actually changes. It goes from a clear lens to a yellowish lens to a brown lens and sometimes even to a white if the cataract is let to go long enough. When a patient comes in here, the first thing is we just access what their visual needs are, you know. Is their vision restricted in some way? Can they no longer drive 'cause they have difficulty reading? Are colors not as sharp? Are they not able to do the things they enjoy doing? And then we tell you--we do a physical exam on the patient. We want to see what's going on. You know, if it happens to be that cataracts are obstructing their vision, that's something we're going to talk to the patient about. What we're looking for is, you know, our view into the eyes - - the patient's view out of the eye. When we look in, if we see that the vision is hazy, cloudy, if we get a lot of glare using our lights, we have to expect the patient is experiencing the same thing. We see if they meet the criteria for cataract surgery, if it is bothersome to them. And then we discuss with them what the best option is in terms of intraocular lens. You know, when a cataract's removed, the entire lens is removed. It's not a--you know, some people think it's just a film that's peeled off. It's not. The actual lens itself is discolored. So when we do cataract surgery, we replace that lens with a clear lens. And that's what the implant is. The surgery itself, you know, the biggest inconvenience for a patient is using drops for the surgery because they have to use drops before and after, but to keep the eye clean and to also decrease inflammation. That's really the only inconvenience. The surgery itself is about a ten minute procedure. We do it here in our facility. We have two operating rooms. We have a full nursing staff that specializes only in ophthalmologic procedures. I think it's a great convenience for the patient. We check on them the day after surgery, and then final check is typically about two weeks later. So the recovery is relatively quick. It's an incredibly successful procedure, probably greater than 95% success rate, if not higher than that. Most of our patients are extremely pleased. It's incredibly rare that a patient ever complains of pain after cataract surgery. That's combined with the small incision, the lack of shots around the eye. There's no needles or anything like that. It allows for a very painless procedure.