Explain how cataract surgery is performed

Ophthalmologist David Demartini, MD, describes cataract surgeries, step-by-step.

Transcript

00:00

Once all the cloudy lens material is removed, a little implant lens is folded up and slid inside the eye,

00:08

and allowed to open quickly, like high-speed photography. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:23

Cataract surgery is performed under local anesthesia, where we numb up the eye.

00:29

And the patient is usually laying supine. And the surgeon can enter through a very small 2

00:37

to 3 millimeter incision and through a dilated pupil, can remove the little lens that's inside,

00:48

and leave the little capsule behind. Once all the cloudy lens material is removed,

00:55

a little implant lens is folded up and slid inside the eye, and allowed to open quickly, like high-speed photography,

01:04

and placed inside that little capsule that was left behind. That lens has been calculated prior to surgery.

01:12

And sometimes can even be checked during surgery so that we can get very accurate corrections of vision

01:19

afterwards. [MUSIC PLAYING]