The eye care specialists at Nebraska Medicine are experts at treating cataracts, performing thousands of cataract surgeries every year. With the most innovative technologies and techniques, we can quickly and effectively remove the cataracts, with little or no discomfort, and minimal recovery time. This outpatient surgery may restore your vision to 20/20.
Patient Guides
What is a cataract?
A cataract is when the natural lens of the eye becomes cloudy, preventing light rays from completely passing through the lens to reach the retina. Cataracts are a very common eye condition most often caused by aging. As cataracts develop, they can eventually reach a level in which they affect the clarity of vision. If cataracts progress to the point in which the vision affects activities of daily living, and the vision is no longer fully correctable with glasses or contact lenses, then cataract surgery is considered.
Other causes of cataracts include:
- Trauma
- Medications such as steroids
- Systemic diseases such as diabetes
- Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light
What are the symptoms?
You might also experience:
- Blurry vision
- Glare or halos, particularly at night
- Frequent changes in your eyeglass prescription
- Decrease in color intensity
- Yellowing of images
- In rare cases, double vision
Cataracts typically develop and progress slowly, though at times the decline can be more rapid.
As the eye's natural lens gets harder and develops into a cataract, farsighted people who have difficulty focusing up close, can experience improved near vision and become less dependent on reading glasses. Nearsighted people often times become more nearsighted, causing a worsening in their distance vision. Some kinds of cataracts affect distance vision more than reading vision. Others affect reading vision more than distance vision.
Reducing your exposure to ultraviolet light by wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses may reduce your risk for developing a cataract, but once a cataract has developed, there is no cure except to have the cataract surgically removed.
Consider Nebraska Medicine for your cataract care
Cataract surgery at Nebraska Medicine is a very successful operation. One and a half million people have this procedure every year in the United States and +98% have a successful result.
Cataract surgery at Nebraska Medicine is and equally successful operation, and thousands of people across the region trust our eye care specialists to perform their surgeries and improve their quality of life. As with any surgical procedure complications can occur, but we take pride in our experience and safety record. In most cases, vision improves and you are quickly back to your normal daily routine.
The surgical procedure includes:
- Making 2 small incisions through the cornea and removing the cataract with a device called phacoemulsification by breaking it into pieces and aspirating it out of the eye.
- Inserting a synthetic intraocular lens implant(IOL) at the time of cataract extraction to replace the focusing power of the natural lens. There are many options with intraocular lens implants that can allow vision at far, intermediate or near distances.