YAG capsulotomy

This is a laser procedure used to treat “after cataracts.”  With cataract surgery, the natural lens is removed from the eye and replaced with a plastic lens (see implant).  While very successful, some people will form a haze or cloudy membrane on the back of their implant. These “after cataracts” occur months or years after surgery and are not a complication or problem … but they can cause blurry vision similar to the original cataract. Fortunately, the opacity is easy to remove using a “YAG laser.”  During the procedure, you sit forward into a laser microscope while I create a hole through the cloudy membrane using tiny laser pulses. This is a painless procedure and takes about 30 seconds to complete.  Afterwards, your vision is blurry from the dilating drops but the vision improves rapidly.  While this procedure is easy and relatively safe, we recheck your eye in a few weeks to insure no retinal problems have developed. This also gives us a chance to recheck your eye glasses prescription.  Once the “after cataract” is gone, it doesn’t come back so you don’t have to have this procedure repeated ever again.