True Or False: Can A Person Have Cataract Surgery If They've Had LASIK Surgery?


Previous LASIK eye surgery patients may be concerned about having cataract surgery if they are now developing cataracts. This is especially true for younger patients who are worried about losing their vision, yet don't want to feel they've wasted their money on laser eye surgery by having to wear glasses again. Keep reading to learn more about cataract eye surgery and LASIK surgery to find out if it's possible to have this type of surgery after LASIK surgery.

Basics About The Eye And Eye Surgery

In order to provide an answer to your question, it's helpful to know a little about the human eye, cataract surgery, and LASIK eye surgery.

Cataract Surgery – This surgery is done on the natural lens inside your eyeball. The lens is located right behind the iris, which is the colored part of your eye. Its purpose is to produce sharp and clear images on the retina. The retina is a light-sensitive membrane on the back inside wall of your eyeball. A healthy lens is transparent. A cloudy lens is called a cataract. If a person undergoes cataract surgery, then that cloudy lens is removed and replaced with an artificial lens implant, which is also called an intraocular lens or IOL. The IOL is typically made of clear plastic and will become part of your eye.

LASIK Surgery – LASIK, which stands for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, is a procedure to correct farsightedness, nearsightedness, and astigmatism. In this surgery, a person's cornea is reshaped with a laser. A cornea is the round, clear dome-shaped tissue on the front of the eye. Eye doctors like to describe the cornea as the eye's front window. The goal of this procedure is to improve the way the eye focuses light onto the retina. When the cornea can bend and refract light rays more precisely onto your retina, you will get clearer vision.

As you can see, both cataract surgery and LASIK surgery improves images on the retina, but the actual surgery is performed on different parts of the eye. This is one reason why it is possible to have cataract surgery after having had laser eye surgery.

Choosing The Best Lens

If you've had LASIK surgery in the past, it's a little trickier for the surgeon to choose the best lens implant for you. But, it's possible to have cataract surgery after having had LASIK surgery. The only difference between a former LASIK patient having cataract surgery and someone who hasn't previously had LASIK surgery having cataract surgery is that additional calculations must be done to figure out the best lens power for that person who previously had laser eye surgery. In order to do this calculation, the surgeon needs accurate records of your eye prescription before and after laser surgery, as well as an accurate measurement of the curvature of your cornea before laser eye surgery. All of this information should be contained in your LASIK eye surgery file.

Extra Step For Former LASIK Patients

If you have previously undergone LASIK eye surgery, then you'll need to obtain your eye health records from your optometrist or ophthalmologist and the surgeon who performed your LASIK eye surgery. If you are unable to obtain these records, you can still have cataract surgery; however, your vision may not improve as much as you and your doctor expected. If that happens to you, additional LASIK surgery is a viable option to improve your sight after cataract surgery.

Now you know the answer is true. It is possible have cataract surgery if you are a former LASIK surgery patient. But in order to receive a predictable outcome, you need to provide your surgeon with as much information as possible about your eyes before and after your LASIK surgery. If you have any questions about cataract surgery, please contact your ophthalmologist or visit websites like http://www.checdocs.org for more information.

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