Cataract surgery is now a relatively brief (20 minutes or less) operation, which can be performed as an outpatient procedure. Dr. Evans has been performing this procedure by phacoemulsification since 1989. He has been performing cataract surgery using a tiny incision requiring no stitches and topical "eye drop" anesthesia that does not require injections or needles since 1994.  In each of the past two years, Dr. Evans has performed more than 1000 cataract procedures.

As part of your cataract surgery, Dr. Evans will typically implant a permanent clear plastic lens to correct your vision. Lens implants, as pictured on the right, are small artificial lenses that are placed in the eye, after the cataract has been removed, to minimize dependence on spectacles. Today, Dr. Evans is able to offer you the opportunity to have a lens implant that will correct your distance vision as well as your near vision so that you will be able to minimize your need for glasses in order to see at all distances following your cataract surgery. These lens implants are called near vision correcting lens implants or presbyopia-correcting lens implants. As part of your cataract evaluation, Dr. Evans and the staff will be sure to discuss the possibility of having a near vision presbyopia-correcting lens implant as part of your cataract surgery.

In the event that you have a considerable amount of astigmatism, it is also possible to correct that astigmatism using a type of lens implant called a toric lens implant. A toric lens implant, or astigmatism correcting lens implant, can help you see clearly at distance without the need for glasses after cataract surgery, but does not correct presbyopia or near vision. For those patients who would like to have the best possible distance vision especially for night vision and low-contrast environments such as at dusk or in rainy conditions, it is possible for Dr. Evans to use an aspheric lens implant which works by eliminating spherical aberration.

Following the removal of a cataract during surgery, the implant is placed in a structure called the capsule. After surgery this capsule remains clear for some time. This capsule often (20% of patients) becomes cloudy following surgery, which can affect the vision. Should this occur, a YAG laser will be used to do a capsulotomy (make a small opening in the capsule) which will restore the vision.

Dr. Evans and the staff will take the time necessary to answer your questions and make specific recommendations about the different types of lens implants during your cataract evaluation.