November 2022 - Armadale Eye Clinic

how long to recover from cataract surgery melbourne

How Long to Recover from Cataract Surgery? Tips for Recovery

November 29, 2022/0 Comments/in Armadale Eye Blogs /by armadaleeye

Although cataract surgery itself is a quick procedure, the cataract surgery recovery period takes much longer. For information on how long it takes to recover from cataract surgery, as well as tips on how to smooth it out as much as possible, keep reading.

How Long to Recover from Cataract Surgery?

Most people will have completed their cataract surgery recovery after 4 to 6 weeks. However, every individual is different – some may heal slightly faster, while others may take a little longer until they feel back to normal. By the 6-week mark post cataract surgery, you can expect that your sight has stabilised and any temporary side effects after your operation have resolved. But a 6-week cataract surgery recovery period doesn’t mean you’re sitting in bed doing nothing. Most people are able to return to their usual activities much sooner.

Immediately after cataract surgery, your eye can be expected to feel:

Sore and/or gritty
Red
Slightly puffy and swollen
Blurry
Glare sensitive
Watery

However, as soon as several hours after having your operation, you may find your vision already begins to clear. Even if it’s not as clear as you’re expecting, don’t worry. Over the 4 to 6 weeks after your cataract surgery, your sight will fluctuate as your eye heals and the lens implant settles. This also means your prescription will vary during this time, so it would be wise to avoid purchasing any new expensive glasses during this time.

If your occupation is non-strenuous and doesn’t require exposure to chemicals, dirt, dust, other contaminants, or the risk of physical trauma, you may return to work as soon as 1 or 2 days after cataract surgery. However, if your job is more physically demanding or puts you at risk of getting an eye infection, your surgeon will want you to take time off work for longer. This includes people who work in the military, physical trainers, swimming instructors, builders, or professional athletes.

In regards to driving, though you may feel you’re seeing clearly enough within a few hours, it’s important to avoid getting behind the wheel until your surgeon has checked your eye. Most clinics will organise a review appointment one day after the cataract operation.

It is not abnormal for some discomfort in your eye to persist for the first week or two during your cataract surgery recovery. This doesn’t necessarily mean something has gone wrong. Some people experience some ongoing dryness of the eyes and glare sensitivity, which may last for several months. Your surgeon will give you some simple tips on how to manage these side effects if they persist, such as using lubricating eyedrops or wearing sunglasses when you’re feeling uncomfortable in the light.

There are some conditions that are known to stretch out the cataract surgery recovery period. If you are at a higher risk of a cataract surgery-related complication, such as having diabetic retinopathy, a very advanced and dense cataract, or a corneal condition, the answer to how long to recover for cataract surgery can be very different for you. Although the corneal incision made during cataract surgery is very small, if you have a disorder that causes wounds to heal slowly, you may find your recovery period to be protracted.

Tips on Maximising Your Cataract Surgery Recovery Process

Prior to your cataract surgery, your surgeon will have probably already given you an idea of what to expect during your recovery period so you can make the appropriate arrangements and take time off work. Always follow your surgeon’s specific instructions, as they’re designed to give you the best chance of recovering after cataract surgery with minimal discomfort and complication. In essence, you want to keep the eye clean and protected from physical injury or infection. You will have the best chance of achieving that through:

Using your prescribed eye drops. You will have up to three bottles of different medications, with varying dosage schedules. Even if you’re feeling good within a week or two, keep using the drops until the end of the prescribed course.
Avoiding any movements that might increase the pressure in your head (and eye). This includes bending over, heavy lifting or other strenuous activity, coughing, sneezing, and vomiting.
Ensuring you keep your eye away from the risk of physical injury. This might even include not putting your face too close to your young grandchildren or active pets.
Keeping soaps, lotions, aerosols, etc, away from your eye area.
Avoiding dusty, dirty environments, including being outdoors on a windy day or in a dusty basement.
Keeping unsterile water out of your eye. This includes the swimming pool, ocean, spas, and saunas. Although these bodies of water are okay to sit in, they are often home to microorganisms that are known to cause severe infections, particularly in compromised eyes.

You shouldn’t expect any significant deterioration during the healing process. That means if your eye begins to become redder, more blurry, more painful, or starts producing discharge, it’s important to see your surgeon immediately. If you’re unable to get hold of your surgeon, consider going to your local optometrist or the emergency department at the nearest hospital.

Even if your cataract surgery went smoothly and you followed all the post-operative healing instructions to the letter, it is still possible to develop a complication such as an infection or swelling around the macula. Anything that doesn’t feel right with your eye after cataract surgery should be attended to immediately.

Call us now on (03) 9070 5753.

Note: Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.

References

Recovery: Cataract Surgery.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cataract-surgery/recovery/#:~:text=These%20side%20effects%20usually%20improve,healed%2C%20usually%20after%206%20weeks.

8 tips to reduce cataract surgery recovery time.
https://www.allaboutvision.com/en-au/conditions/cataract-surgery-recovery/

how to prevent glaucoma melbourne

How to Prevent Glaucoma? Ways to Manage the Possible Risks

November 14, 2022/0 Comments/in Armadale Eye Blogs /by armadaleeye

Around 300,000 Australian adults have glaucoma, but it is thought that half these people don’t even realise they have it. If you know you have an elevated glaucoma risk through a family history of glaucoma or other factors identified by your eye health professional, questions on how to prevent glaucoma may have already crossed your mind.

When it comes to discussing how to prevent glaucoma, while the straight answer may not be what you’re hoping for, there are still steps you can take to combat this blinding eye disease.

What is Glaucoma?

Glaucoma is a type of eye disease known as an optic neuropathy. This is a descriptive term referring to disease and damage to the optic nerve. As the optic nerve is responsible for transmitting signals from the eyeball to the brain, if it becomes damaged, your sight will subsequently be affected. After cataracts, glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness around the world. However, unlike cataracts, this blindness can’t be cured.

In most cases, the development of glaucoma is associated with elevated pressure inside the eye; this is known as intraocular pressure (IOP). Intraocular pressure is determined by the balance of aqueous fluid production to its drainage through a structure known as the anterior angle inside the eyeball. If this fluid is unable to be drained out at a sufficient rate, the IOP can rise. This can put the optic nerve at glaucoma risk. However, as we’ll see, elevated intraocular pressures don’t explain all cases of glaucoma.

Your eye surgeon and other eye health professionals will divide glaucoma into three broad subtypes:

Open-angle glaucoma. This is a type of glaucoma where the drainage structures of the eye appear open, but for some reason (not always understood), fluid is unable to drain out properly.
Closed-angle glaucoma. As the name suggests, the drainage angle is narrowed or closed, physically impeding the drainage of aqueous fluid and causing the IOP to rise.
Normotension or low-tension glaucoma. In this type of glaucoma, the intraocular pressure is still within a normal range, yet optic nerve damage is occurring. There are likely other underlying causes, such as compromised blood flow to the optic nerve.

How to Prevent Glaucoma – Is it Possible?

Glaucoma, in all its forms, is a complex disease. The eye health community doesn’t fully understand what causes it, why some people with all the glaucoma risk factors never develop it, and why some people with no risk factors do. So, when it comes to discussing how to prevent glaucoma, unfortunately, the blunt answer is that you can’t. However, there are ways you can reduce your glaucoma risk.

Manage Your Glaucoma Risk

There are a number of known glaucoma risk factors. Some of these can be controlled, while others can’t. It’s due to these uncontrollable risk factors (both those that are currently known and those that are yet to be discovered) that your eye surgeon will tell you that we cannot prevent this disease.

As far as we know so far, unmodifiable risk factors include:

Genetics. Mutations in certain genes are known to be associated with glaucoma. Family history can dramatically increase your risk of developing this eye disease yourself. If you have a parent or sibling with glaucoma, your likelihood increases up to 10-times.
Ethnicity. Although all ethnic backgrounds have the potential to develop glaucoma, Asians and Africans are known to be at the highest risk.
Age. Being older than 50 years is considered to be a factor for glaucoma. The older you get, the higher your risk. Older adults are at a higher likelihood of developing other eye health problems and general health issues, which can indirectly increase your glaucoma risk too.
Eye anatomy. If your anterior angle is naturally narrow, this will automatically elevate your risk of glaucoma. However, unlike the other unmodifiable risk factors, your eye surgeon can proactively treat this through a laser procedure if necessary.
Very high myopia (short-sightedness) or hyperopia (long-sightedness). Structural changes to the eyeball from these high prescriptions can be a risk factor for glaucoma.

Although you cannot eliminate your risk of glaucoma entirely, there are some risk factors that you do have some control over. Above all, maintaining regular visits with your optometrist or eye surgeon to check your eye health is crucial. The vision loss from glaucoma cannot be reversed, so the best course of action is to try and prevent it from progressing in the first place. There are a number of effective treatments that can help to slow or stop the progression of glaucomatous damage, but the first step is to be diagnosed.

Here are some risk factors you can control:

Stop smoking.
Treat any obstructive sleep apnoea.
Wear protective gear if you’re doing an activity with a risk of eye injury.
Manage any diabetes well.
Avoid taking corticosteroid medications, or keep a close watch on your intraocular pressures if it’s unavoidable.
Keep your blood pressure within a healthy range.

It is also important to manage your intraocular pressures if they’re elevated, as high pressures increase your likelihood of glaucomatous vision loss. It is possible to have pressures above the normal range without developing glaucoma – this is often termed ocular hypertension. Your eye surgeon will make a decision through experience and your glaucoma test results about whether it’s recommended to proactively treat your IOP, even if there’s not yet any evidence of glaucoma. Treatment is always aimed at lowering the intraocular pressures, although there is some evidence that vitamin B3 supplementation may also be useful for protecting the optic nerve in glaucoma. Pressure-lowering treatments include laser procedures, eyedrop medications, or surgery.

Call us now on (03) 9070 5753 for a consultation.

Note: Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.

References

Glaucoma
https://www.cera.org.au/conditions/glaucoma/

Epidemiology of Glaucoma: The Past, Present, and Predictions for the Future.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7769798/

Risk Factors for Glaucoma.
https://glaucoma.org.au/what-is-glaucoma/risk-factors-for-glaucoma