When you arrive at the Wilton Surgery Center, the staff will check you in and review any paperwork that might require clarification or additional information. You will be escorted to a private changing area and asked to cover your street clothes with a gown and your shoes with “booties”. Once you are ready you will be escorted to a comfortable waiting area. A staff member will place some drops in your eye to dilate your pupil and your eye will then be treated with an anesthetic so that you will feel little if anything during your surgery and minimal if any discomfort. For most cataract surgery patients this involves having a few sets of eye drops placed in your eyes. Typically, it is not necessary for Doctor & Associates cataract surgeons to use any injections or needles to anesthetize your eye. In order to help you relax, a small dose of anti-anxiety and/or sedative medication will be given as directed by your eye surgeon.

At the beginning of the surgery, your surgeon will place a very small incision at the outermost edge of your cornea.

This incision will be just large enough to allow microscopic instruments, about the size of a pen tip to pass through it. First, a small opening will be made in the membrane or “capsule” that covers the crystalline lens. Next, a delicate sophisticated microscopic instrument will be inserted that allows the removal of your cataract using ultrasound.

This cataract removal technique is called “phacoemulsification” and is the preferred technique of cataract surgery for most patients. Sound waves or “ultrasound” produced at the tip of the instrument will be used to gently break the cataract into pieces small enough to be washed away, drawn through the instrument and removed from your eye. After the cataract has been removed, your surgeon will insert a new, crystal clear permanent intraocular lens implant (IOL) into your eye.

During your preoperative measurement visit, your cataract surgeon may recommend performing your cataract surgery with a laser in order to provide a more gentle procedure. Also, your cataract surgeon and the staff will discuss choosing a cataract lens implant to correct your vision and help you see clearly. Our eye surgeons can use cataract lens implants to correct vision at distance, arm’s length and up close, as well as astigmatism, so that you are not dependent on glasses after cataract surgery. We will take the time necessary to answer all of your questions so you can relax on the day of your surgery. Upon completion of your cataract and lens implant surgery, one of the Wilton Surgery Center staff members will take you to a comfortable place where you will be able to rest and relax prior to going home. After resting for a short while, a surgery staff member will discharge you and have a family member or friend drive you home. We will arrange for you to be seen at our offices within 24 to 48 hours of your cataract and lens implant surgery so we can examine your eye and confirm that you are healing and seeing as planned. We will also prescribe some eye drops for you. Although each patient will heal a little bit differently, the majority of our patients having cataract surgery are able to see well enough to return to their routine daily activities within a day or so after their cataract surgery.