Cataract surgery
Moderators: Mike Bartolatz, kwork
Cataract surgery
I have been suffering from vision issues for the past 18 months. I had been originally diagnosed with an inflamed retina in one eye and was treated with steroids. My problems were coming and going so 6 months ago I went to a new doctor and was diagnosed with iritis and uveitis in both eyes and have been treated with steroids again. Although they say it is autoimmune my blood tests show no makers for autoimmune disease. Now I have developed cataracts and am wondering if I should go ahead and have surgery for the cataracts. If I do have surgery, can the cataracts come back if I continue to use steroid drops? If so, can you have cataract surgery more than once? Thanks for the great advice on this forum.
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Mike Bartolatz
- Posts: 6595
- Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 9:58 pm
Re: Cataract surgery
I strongly urge you to seek input from an ocular immunologist as inflammation of the retina from uveitis is very serious and it takes more than just corticosteroids to calm the beast down. there is a list of these specialists at http://www.uveitis.org in the PATIENT information section of the site. do whatever it takes to get a consutation right away.
as to cataracts, yes surgery can be done to remove them but most surgeons will wait until vision from the cataracts is compromised to at least 20/80 because the surgery will most often trigger renewed inflammation that can be very difficult to quiet down. Ideally one should have no inflammation present for about three months prior to surgery to get the best outcome. sometimes the renewed inflammation can cause the capsule that contains the lens to opacify and then YAG laser surgery can blast a hole through it allowing vision to improve. the 'cataracts' cannot come back one the lens is removed through surgery.
the expertise of the Ocular Immunologist can often determine a cause for the posterior uveitis that you have going on and then appropriate medications for that underlying disease or pathogen etc can be employed. not all forms of uveitis are treated the same way.
the steroid drops will only treat inflammation in the front of the eye, they cannot penetrate to the middle or back of the eye.
Wish you the best,
Mike
as to cataracts, yes surgery can be done to remove them but most surgeons will wait until vision from the cataracts is compromised to at least 20/80 because the surgery will most often trigger renewed inflammation that can be very difficult to quiet down. Ideally one should have no inflammation present for about three months prior to surgery to get the best outcome. sometimes the renewed inflammation can cause the capsule that contains the lens to opacify and then YAG laser surgery can blast a hole through it allowing vision to improve. the 'cataracts' cannot come back one the lens is removed through surgery.
the expertise of the Ocular Immunologist can often determine a cause for the posterior uveitis that you have going on and then appropriate medications for that underlying disease or pathogen etc can be employed. not all forms of uveitis are treated the same way.
the steroid drops will only treat inflammation in the front of the eye, they cannot penetrate to the middle or back of the eye.
Wish you the best,
Mike
Mike Bartolatz
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