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Understanding Cataracts

How are cataracts treated?

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Laura D. Cook
Assistant Professor of Opthalmology, University of Virginia-Department of Opthalmology
www.healthsystem.virginia.edu  
434-924-5485

The Ophthalmology Residency Training Program at the University of Virginia was separated from Otolaryngology in 1947. Since 1978, it has been under the leadership of a full-time academic faculty. The Department currently serves as the ophthalmic referral center for central and western Virginia and parts of West Virginia, North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

How are cataracts treated?

The lens of your eye functions very much like the windshield of your car. Laura D. Cook, M.D., Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, explains how cataracts affect your vision.

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Host: How are cataracts treated?

Dr. Laura D. Cook: So, the only treatment we have available right now is surgical treatment and many patients will enquire whether this means if they actually have to have an incision and yes, it does mean that you have an incision and there are two places that incision can be made. One is on the white part of the sclera of the eye, the other is on the cornea or the clear window right here on the eye. This incision is generally just a few millimeters and doesn't need a suture or a stitch. However, there are times that stitches are used and then an ultrasound probe is used to divide the lens and then remove the lens and then a plastic or artificial lens made of either acrylic, PMMA or silicon is inserted then to focus light inside of the eye.

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