The selection of cataract surgeons

Sunday, October 18th, 2009 at 5:34 pm Post in Eye Diseases

Most cataract surgeons can deal with common types of cataracts, such as removing clouded lens and replacing a standard IOL. What the patient should pay attention to are the types of IOLs and their costs.

However, the implantation of a multifocal IOL will cost the patient much more, and demands more expertise from the surgeon. The extra fee for a multifocal IOL may reach as high as $2,500, which is out of the Medicare and insurance plans. The benefits from multifocal IOLs lie in that they can restore your vision at multiple distances: near vision, intermediate vision and distance vision. Many physical and optical factors may exclude a person as a candidate for multifocal IOLs. Actually, a standard surgery with single-vision IOLs is enough for the majority of people. A standard cataract surgery provides promising distance vision.

Even if you choose a standard surgery, there are many aspects you should ask your friends and relatives for their reviews about their experiences, such as the surgeon’s courtesy, detailed billing, follow-up care and the most importantly, outcome. You may also get recommendation for the optometrist or ophthalmologist who has diagnosed your cataracts. Once you have made a primary choice of a certain surgeon, you should consult his or her staff some issues directly: the number of procedures he has succeeded, eye infection rate and the IOL type. Of course, you can get some information from their handouts.

The selection of surgeons for a multifocal IOL implantation involves more complexity. The first problem you should be aware of is the type or types of multifocal IOLs that the surgeon can deal with. There are four FDA-approved multifocal IOLs: IQ ReSTOR, ReZoom, Tecnis Multifocal and Crystalens, all of which require different procedures, expertise and also have slightly different outcomes. Patients should never believe in a surgery that guarantees a perfect vision recovery. Qualified surgeons will inform you about potential risks and complications and make your expectations realistic. This is very important since no IOL can guarantee perfect vision. The surgeon may also advise the patient to take an additional astigmatism correction procedure.

The surgeon’s credibility for a multifocal IOL surgery is critical, since most of the standard cataract surgeons can not insert a multifocal IOL. Some organizations offer validation information of cataract surgeons, such as the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the National Practitioner Data Band.