Cataract Surgery

What are cataracts?

Cataracts are clouding of our natural lens inside of our eye which at first causes blurry vision and if left untreated causes complete visual loss. It is a natural part of aging, and generally speaking, the lifespan of our natural lens is around 65-75 years which loses transparency after cataracts develop.

Thanks to modern cataract surgery, we can regain the 20/20 vision of a young person and say hello to life without near or far-vision glasses as a bonus.

What are the symptoms of cataracts?

Your vision becomes cloudy and blurry, colors start to fade, halos appear around the lights, and double vision may start. With certain types of cataracts, your near vision may become better, and far vision may decrease, you may start to read without reading glasses. Your night vision starts to deteriorate. With time, cataracts will progress, vision will worsen and finally if not treated with surgery, vision can be lost completely.

How are cataracts treated?

Surgery for taking out the cloudy natural lens and implanting an artificial high-technology intraocular lens surgically is the only treatment option for cataracts.

How modern cataract surgery is performed?

Cataracts are removed from the eye from a 2.2 mm incision using high-technology phacoemulsification machines and a new high-tech artificial intraocular lens (IOL) is implanted to take over the function of the removed natural lens. The procedure is performed with eye drop anesthesia unless the patient asks for sedation or general anesthesia. The surgery lasts for about 15 minutes.

Cataract Surgery Turkey

Cataract surgery is a common procedure worldwide and is often performed in Turkey as well.

Turkey has gained a reputation for offering high-quality medical services, including ophthalmic procedures, at competitive prices compared to many Western countries. Ankara and Izmir, in particular, is known for its advanced medical facilities and experienced surgeons.

When do you need cataract surgery?

After a detailed eye examination, your ophthalmologist can easily identify if you have cataracts. Cataract surgery is indicated if the degree of visual loss limits your vision-related activities like driving or decreases your quality of life. Generally, cataract surgery is indicated if the patient's best corrected visual acuity is lower than 0.6 or 20/32.

What happens if cataract surgery is delayed?

In addition to visual loss, delaying cataract surgery may result in high intraocular pressure and inflammatory reactions in the eye. As cataracts progress and vision decreases patient’s quality of life deteriorates, risk of falls and accidents increases which can lead to life-threatening complications. When cataracts become hard due to delayed treatment, the cataract surgery becomes difficult both for the patient and surgeon. The risk of surgical complications increases.

What are intraocular lenses?

When you remove a cloudy cataractous natural lens eye loses 30% of its focusing power so to restore it we have to put an artificial lens inside of the eye that will stay there for the rest of the life. They are called intraocular lenses and are generally made of acrylic. There are many kinds of intraocular lenses depending on the properties of the eye and the patient's lifestyle.

High-quality, high-tech lenses provide lifelong clear vision and patients may become completely glasses-free for far, intermediate, and near vision, which means you can see clearly and drive, watch TV, read books and your computer screen, and use your phone without any glasses.

The types and properties of intraocular lenses are quite complicated so we will explain them on a separate page.

Will I need glasses after cataract surgery?

Depending on the kind of intraocular lens implanted you may or you may not. With a monofocal intraocular lens, you may need glasses either for reading or far (watching TV, driving). With the newer high-tech trifocal or EDOF intraocular lenses, you can do everything and see every distance clearly without any dependence on glasses.

Your surgeon will do a complete eye exam and tell you if your eye is suitable for any type of IOL or not. If your eye is suitable for every type of IOL, IOL type will be your choice.

Cataract surgery is considered the safest and most successful surgery in human history. However, as with any surgical procedure, there are risks of complications. Although very rare, infections, hemorrhages, and posterior capsular rupture are among the most feared complications of cataract surgery. The risk of blindness due to cataract surgery is less than 3 in every 10,000 cases.

When performed by an experienced and well-educated surgeon in ideal surgical settings, using single-use FDA or CE-approved devices, this risk is significantly lower. At Perfect Vision Turkey clinics, we offer the highest quality surgical settings, utilize single-use FDA and CE-approved surgical devices, employ high-tech intraocular lenses, and are staffed by world-renowned, highly experienced eye surgeons.