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Do they knock you out for this? I can't imagine holding still while someone's coming at my eye with a knife or a laser. My eye doc told me I have cataracts but they are small and 'not mature'. I have no idea how long it takes for them to 'mature', is it years or months?
they do conscious sedation. you are sedated and able to protect your airway (you don't need to be intubated) but most likely will not remember any of it. my second surgery they didn't sedate me as heavily as the first and i remember a couple snippets of conversation the doc/CRNA had but other than that.... it's similar to what they do for colonoscopy.
Do they knock you out for this? I can't imagine holding still while someone's coming at my eye with a knife or a laser. My eye doc told me I have cataracts but they are small and 'not mature'. I have no idea how long it takes for them to 'mature', is it years or months?
I was sedated. I was lying on the operating table seeing bright lights in my eyes, and next thing I knew, I was sitting up, and someone was asking me what I wanted to drink. No awareness of the surgery at all.
I was diagnosed with cataracts in 2015, and needed surgery in 2017.
they do conscious sedation. you are sedated and able to protect your airway (you don't need to be intubated) but most likely will not remember any of it. my second surgery they didn't sedate me as heavily as the first and i remember a couple snippets of conversation the doc/CRNA had but other than that.... it's similar to what they do for colonoscopy.
This is exactly my experience over the past two months. I had both eyes done. I had no memory at all of the first procedure, but for the second one I watched the robot arm approach my eye. No pain, no fear, both surgeries were a success. I opted for distance vision on both sides, I can live with reading glasses. My vision is now 20/20 in one eye, 20/30 in the other.
I was sedated. I was lying on the operating table seeing bright lights in my eyes, and next thing I knew, I was sitting up, and someone was asking me what I wanted to drink. No awareness of the surgery at all.
I was diagnosed with cataracts in 2015, and needed surgery in 2017.
Well thank God for that, I was afraid they'd give me a stupid valium or something and expect me to sit there and hold still while they poke things in my eyes and that just wouldn't work well.
Well thank God for that, I was afraid they'd give me a stupid valium or something and expect me to sit there and hold still while they poke things in my eyes and that just wouldn't work well.
Well, yeah, they do give you something like Valium, so your emotional reaction to having a laser parked on your eyeball doesn't make you jump out of the chair! I suppose if you insisted on general anesthetic they'd do it, but it would sure make the surgery more complicated. It only takes 5 - 10 minutes once you get into the OR and only a fraction of that time is spent under the laser (the rest is pre- & post-op and putting in the implant).
AFAIK cataracts develop at different rates for everyone -- years ago a colleague of mine in his 20s acquired a cataract that went from nothing to very serious within a couple of months. I had mine for years, and what finally pushed me to have the operation was when my glasses would no longer correct my vision adequately and night driving became too scary.
Heh -- and by far the freakiest part of my whole operation was when I heard the following discussion between the ophthalmologist and the laser technician behind me:
Doc [speaking in calm, reassuring tones]: OK, looks like we're done here. Now what does this "error code" mean?
Tech: Don't worry about it, just go back to the last screen --.
Well, yeah, they do give you something like Valium, so your emotional reaction to having a laser parked on your eyeball doesn't make you jump out of the chair! I suppose if you insisted on general anesthetic they'd do it, but it would sure make the surgery more complicated. It only takes 5 - 10 minutes once you get into the OR and only a fraction of that time is spent under the laser (the rest is pre- & post-op and putting in the implant).
AFAIK cataracts develop at different rates for everyone -- years ago a colleague of mine in his 20s acquired a cataract that went from nothing to very serious within a couple of months. I had mine for years, and what finally pushed me to have the operation was when my glasses would no longer correct my vision adequately and night driving became too scary.
Heh -- and by far the freakiest part of my whole operation was when I heard the following discussion between the ophthalmologist and the laser technician behind me:
Doc [speaking in calm, reassuring tones]: OK, looks like we're done here. Now what does this "error code" mean?
Tech: Don't worry about it, just go back to the last screen --.
Thank god for Valium!
My guess is that valium works better for you than for me, several years ago my dentist gave me a prescription for valium 10mg and told me to take one an hour before my appointment. I tried one, it did absolutely nothing. I tried one the next time I went and it 'sort of' relaxed me but not to the point that I would be ok with having a laser poked in my eye
Went to see new eye doctor ("I have pots & pans older than him"), a new business run by a dozen or so eye doctors; tons of contemporary equipment, numerous tests of various kinds, and doctor communicated my situation very clearly and at length. Said the older doctor (my age and in practice 48 years!), did a good surgery but an old-fashioned one. New doctor removed loose stitch, sees me in two weeks, and will do right eye with a more contemporary procedure when left eye clears up, which it should.
Great to hear it. I had mine done by an older doctor and I liked his old fashioned qualities like spending an hour with me the first appointment and going in the other room to wash his hands with soap and water. But you have to be comfortable with your doctor, so I'm glad you found one you like.
Follow-up: My eye feels better. Evaluation appointment two weeks. The new doc said they would do the right eye, when the time comes, by surgery when I'm awake. Shot in the arm, body prone on back, sheet over all. My only job will be to focus on a light. Doc said I was a good patient and would not have any trouble.
So, long term, each eye will have been done with a different procedure. He said that while in the past my very football shaped eyes had me wearing glasses for distance and no glasses close up reading, the cataract surgery will reverse that. I read a great deal so I don't know how that will work for me, but there's no choice I guess.
I was courteous and cancelled the other doctor's appointment. That doc called me prior to that, and that long space of dead silence from him was evidenced over the phone. I just don't like that.
Do they knock you out for this? I can't imagine holding still while someone's coming at my eye with a knife or a laser. My eye doc told me I have cataracts but they are small and 'not mature'. I have no idea how long it takes for them to 'mature', is it years or months?
If your eye is frozen correctly you wont feel a thing and you also wont see anything as they shine an extremely bright light in your eye , the actual procedure should be over and done with in less than 10 minutes. As for the knife and the laser? there is no knife its an ultra sound device that makes the small quarter inch incision,the laser does the same thing but for some reason is much more expensive.
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Thank god for Valium!
