 Cataract
surgery is performed at the Tri-County Surgery Center
, a state-of-the-art, Medicare approved and Association for
Accreditation of Ambulatory Health Centers (AAAHC)-certified
surgical center. Extensive pre-operative and post-operative
instructions will be given to the patient at the time of the
evaluation. Patients must have an EKG and a medical clearance
form filled out by their primary care physician within 2-3
weeks of the planned surgery date to confirm that the patient
is in stable health and can tolerate this out-patient, elective
operation. Normally, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory prescription
eye drops are instilled into the operated eye starting three
days before surgery. Patients usually arrive at the surgical
center 45-60 minutes before their scheduled operation time.
Vital signs are monitored while a small amount of intravenous
sedation is used along with topical anesthetic eye drops to
ensure a pleasant and pain-free surgical experience.  After
a brief stay in the post-anesthesia care unit, the patient
is discharged with a plastic eye shield covering the operated
eye. No patch is used and the patient usually has some level
of vision, although usually blurred, in the immediate 24 hour
post-operative period. The eye drops, plus another anti-inflammatory
eyedrop, are then continued for approximately 3-4 weeks. After
that time, either the second eye is operated if necessary
or the final determination of the post-operative eyeglass
prescription is made. A final dilated eye examination is usually
performed 4 months after the surgery and then yearly thereafter.
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