Cataract question......

What exactly is cataract surgery..??  they take off the old eye lense (foggy part) , is it replaced with anything else?

My father had it and I have a good friend having it right at this minute....

I always had a problem, with oil across the eyes...ever since I was a teenager...I tried contacts and it did not work,,,this oil got on the contacts and I had to give them up...It is just my body...My question, if I ever have to have this surgery, I hope there is not a plastic lense they replace, or I am in allot of trouble....Is the cataract just scraped off and then left to heal or is it replaced with some kind of man made lense...

They said I would outgrow it when I get older and your system "dries up a bit"....but that is not happening....

I know I still have this problem, when I eat certain foods..I get this oil film on my eyes...you can actually see it when looking in a mirror.  I also have floaters, but that is different...

 It is a pain when this happens, doesn't hurt but annoying...

I had the cataracts removed two years ago.  They did one eye one week; waited two weeks and then did the other eye.  What the surgeon did was remove the cataracts and replace my lenses with artificial ones.  It is great!  I was near sighted.  I couldn't see anything at a distance, but up close I had no problems except for the blurring of the cataracts.  Wow!  Now I tell people I can see a gnat's fanny at 100 yards!  I must wear "cheaters" to see recipes and read, but as far as anything at a distance; no problem.  There was minimal pain to the operation.  In fact, I would call it more discomfort than pain.  I highly recommend the procedure.

I amventuring a guess: the "Oil film"in your eyes could be from the over active oil glands in the eye-lashes, just like some people have oily hair because their gand produce too much oil.

When was te last time you saw a good eye doctor?????

I have what is called Blepheritis, when the oil glands in the lashes are producing but the little bit of oil is not fluid enough and dries up and cakes up in the corners of your eyes(like little balls of concrete). My friend Esther has the samething and it is fairly common for older folks.

A cataract is the clouding of the lense. The whole lense has to be removed. Long ago they used to replace them with lenses from donors or dead people and it was  quite an operation. Now those operations are very simple. A very tiny cut,then  they "suck" the old lens out and insert a rolled up manmade lens through a very thin needle and  through that tiny cut. It unrolls into place, no need for stitches like they used to do. The surgeon works with very STRONG maginfying telescopic lenses strapped on and it is   a very delicate operation. I admire a surgeon who has hands steady enough to do this work and is able to restore the sight of  many people who would otherwise go blind.

Go see an ophtamologist (sp?) for a good eye exam instead of an optometrist.

gr_elo:

Go see an ophtamologist (sp?) for a good eye exam instead of an optometrist

I second what gre-lo says.  Advances are made all the time and you do need a good opthamologist, not an optometrist.......Gram 

Grelo  and Gramofinine..........Thanks a bunch...I am afraid of plastic lenses, if that is the case.