Critical Retina Exam Important for Cataract Surgery

Physician Staff at The Eye Care & Surgery Center

Having a critical retina exam as part of your cataract exam before cataract surgery is a good idea based on current research. In fact, patients with cataracts and contemplating cataract surgery should expect their cataract surgeon to perform a thorough and critical retinal exam in order to carefully correlate the degree of vision loss with the density and position of the cataract. When cataract patients report a decrease in vision, it is important to correlate the visual symptoms and visual acuity to the degree of cataract present. If you have a considerable amount of vision loss but only mild cataracts, the actual cause of the vision loss must be identified. In many cases, a careful examination of theretina can reveal underlying pathology such as epiretinal membranes, retinal wrinkling or macular pucker with edema. In fact, some studies report a prevalence of epiretinal membranes in 7% of patients older than 60 years and in 20% of patients aged 75 years or more-the prime demographic for cataract surgery. Therefore, before you have cataract surgery expect to have whatever level of examination and testing your cataract surgeon requests in order to help you get the best results.

If you or someone you know has questions about the need for a critical retina exam before cataract surgery and lens implants please feel free to call The Eye Care & Surgery Center at 908-789-8999, visit The Eye Care & Surgery Center or facebook.com/eyecareandsurgerycenter to schedule an appointment.

With locations at 592 Springfield Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, 10 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, New Jersey 07059 and 517 Route One South, Suite 1100, Iselin, New Jersey 08830, The Eye Care & Surgery Center is a leading NJ eye care practice conveniently located for patients from throughout central and northern New Jersey.