Yag Laser Capsulotomy
During your cataract operation, natures lens, inside your eye, was taken out of its bag and a new plastic lens was put into the bag inside your eye. Quite often this membranous bag thickens and so it can seem as if a cataract is developing again.
In the past this was treated by an operation which divided the membrane behind the implant. However, nowadays we can do this same thing with laser.
What is Involved?
You attend as an out-patient
You will have anaesthetic drops put into your eye
After signing a consent a contact lens will be put into the eye
The laser light is focused on to the membrane only and after a few seconds the membrane is divided by multiple shots.
You may feel a tingle sensation or a knocking sensation but it should not be painful.
Most of the time is taken up focusing the laser beam. The actual laser treatment is very short indeed.
Preparation
Usually the vision is checked beforehand. You may be given some drops or a tablet to prepare the eye to prevent an eye pressure rise.
After Treatment
Your eye will be washed with salt water drops and then your vision checked 10 to 15 minutes after your laser treatment. There is a slight delay to allow you to recover your vision after the dazzle from the light.
Success Rate
The treatment is usually successful in terms of improving the vision. Obviously the more thick the membrane, the more dramatic the improvement will be.
Sometimes no improvement occurs, if the main cause of reduced vision was due to a retinal problem rather than a membrane problem.
After laser capsulotomy, patients often notice a round solitary floater, this is the disc of capsule cut from the bag by the laser. With time this becomes smaller and denser and will sometimes float out of vision and then sometimes float back into vision. Sometimes it disappears out of the light pathway and becomes adherent to the structures in the eye and so it will disappears. Other times it stays intermittently returning into view.
There is a small risk involved in the laser treatment and this may be as much as 1% risk of causing a retinal detachment. (This risk doubles if your eye is highly shortsighted,2%).You will have an eye examination 6 weeks after your laser treatment to check that this has not occurred.
If you notice any sudden shower of floaters or curtain-like field defect or worsening of sharpness of vision after treatment, then you should return promptly for a check-up.
This information site has been provided by varied UK and US eye doctors for patients with eye problems.
Once your eye doctor has made a diagnosis or recommended an investigation or treatment, then you will be able to find further explanation on this site.
It is not a self diagnosis centre. It should not be relied upon without taking professional advice.