A common problem
A common problem seen after successful cataract surgery is recurrence of the symptoms of cataract that were described in an earlier post, namely: blurring of vision, things appear faded, difficulty in making out what one is seeing, especially at night, and glares when you look at street lamps or the light of an oncoming car.
Yes. indeed. This is a common problem.
See the eye surgeon again? Yes. And in my case, he diagnosed the blurring after one year of successful cataract surgery to be due to posterior capsular opacification. An analogy of it is like this: The posterior capsule is the back of the lens envelope that was transparent before and after the successful cataract surgery. Light passes from the front of the eye through the intraocular lens (IOL), through the transparent posterior capsule, and finally hits the retina to create the clear picture in my brain.
Now, one year later, the posterior capsule which was transparent has turned opaque. I checked up the facts. Apparently, this opacification can occur, ranging from a few months after successful cataract extraction, to some years after the surgery. Mine was one year post successful surgery.
Explanation
Why should blurring take place? This is a common complication — something to the order of 35% in local experience. Why it should occur is unclear.
Treatment is to make holes in the posterior capsule with a YAG laser treatment device. This is in effect, creating holes in the now opaque posterior capsule. It is very much like the idea of turning a fence that is opaque (the wooden fence in the feature picture) into a fence that has openings (in the picture, the metal fence with spaces in between). Eyesight was restored. And the result was instantaneous, once the treatment with the laser treatment device was completed.
Take home message
If blurring of vision takes place a year or longer after successful cataract surgery, the cause could be posterior capsular opacification. See the eye surgeon again and with treatment the result is instantaneous restoration of sight. Pass this message on.
Dr LG Goh
Dr GOH Lee Gan is a retired Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, National University Health System. He has an interest in learning and teaching how we can age well everyday (AWE).
