Cataract Surgery

The cataract surgery specialist at Northeast Ohio Eye Surgeons’ Cataract Center, you’ll find award-winning doctors, state-of-the-art facilities, and advanced laser technology. Our cataract surgery doctors were among the first in Ohio to use the LenSx® Custom Cataract Laser for cataract treatment. They’ve also been recognized as Best Doctors in America and Top Docs for nearly 20 years. Since 1982, our surgeons have performed over 50,000 successful cataract surgeries, with a vast majority of our patients achieving legal driving vision or better without glasses following the surgery. 

If you’re having vision issues and need answers, schedule an appointment with the highly trained staff and doctors at NEOES. Through a detailed evaluation, we’ll be able to answer your questions and help you determine if cataract laser surgery is the treatment for you. We know that every patient’s eyes are unique, and we’re committed to helping you make the best decision for your vision based on your eye health and lifestyle.

A cataract occurs when the eye’s clear lens becomes cloudy, causing cloudy vision. As the leading cause of vision loss in people over 40, cataract is a condition that should be addressed. Typically, cataracts develop as part of the natural aging process. What causes cataracts? Cataracts can be caused by trauma, disease, or medications. Two common symptoms that patients with cataracts report include blurry vision and sensitivity to light and glare. 

As cataracts progress, reading and driving, especially at night, may be difficult. This is due to cataracts causing your natural lens to become cloudier, which means light rays cannot easily pass through, resulting in glare. In some cases, people with cataracts may experience ghosted or double vision as well. 

Although there is no medical treatment that can reverse or prevent cataracts, cataract surgery may help. If you are at or above the age of 40 and are experiencing problems with your vision, you should schedule an appointment. Let our doctors evaluate your eye health and help you determine the right course of action. 

Laser cataract surgery has helped patients achieve higher-quality vision without needing to rely on glasses.

Studies show that computer-guided laser cataract surgery is more accurate for correcting astigmatism than conventional cataract surgery. It’s also ten times more precise than using a blade, which leads to more accurate surgical outcomes.

Do you dream of the days where you didn’t rely on glasses to perform your daily activities? Then our Lifestyle Cataract Surgery may be right for you. During Lifestyle Cataract Surgery, your surgeons will use the LenSx® Custom Cataract Laser to treat and eliminate any astigmatism during your surgery. Additionally, the cataract surgeon will implant a special “multifocal” or “accommodative” lens instead of using a basic IOL. These lenses provide you with a greater vision range and significantly reduce your need for near vision glasses. Most Lifestyle Cataract Surgery patients can do close work and read following their procedure. However, some patients still experience the need for mild reading glasses for small print or doing fine work. 

Are you exploring Lifestyle Cataract Treatment options? 

Find out if the AcrySof IQ PanOptix® IOL may be the right choice for you. PanOptix® IOL is the next-generation trifocal lens designed to provide you with clear vision for near (40 cm), intermediate (60 cm), and far distances without glasses. Click here to learn more about PanOptix® IOL.

Combining the precision of a laser with the ability to correct astigmatisms, our Custom Cataract Surgery has helped most cataract patients eliminate their need for glasses for distance vision. 

During this procedure, our surgeons use the LenSx® Custom Cataract Laser to create incisions that treat both cataracts and astigmatism. In fact, studies show that 75% of cataract patients have significant astigmatism, which means they could greatly benefit from cataract laser surgery. Additionally, this procedure allows our surgeons to develop a customized plan that addresses your eyes’ needs. 

In some cases, patients have too much astigmatism for our laser to correct entirely. If this is true for your eyes, our surgeons will use the laser to make incisions to remove the cataract. This also helps properly align the new intraocular lens while fine-tuning the astigmatism correction. However, instead of implanting the basic lens, the doctor will insert a toric IOL, a specially designed lens that corrects higher amounts of astigmatism. This has helped patients enjoy sharp distance vision without glasses, though most will still need reading glasses. Despite this, Custom Cataract Laser Surgery is still one of the most precise and predictable procedures available to cataract patients.

Considered one of the safest and most successful procedures we perform, Basic Cataract Surgery has seen some major advancements. During the surgery, our doctor will use a blade to make a microscopic incision on your cornea. Your cloudy, natural lens will be removed, and a clear, basic intraocular lens (IOL) will be inserted. 

Basic Cataract Surgery will alleviate your blurry vision and glare caused by cataracts, but it does not address other eyesight issues. These include astigmatism and the need for reading glasses, with most patients still needing prescription glasses for various activities. Medicare and most private insurances cover this procedure. Insurance co-pays and deductibles still apply.

Optiwave Refractive Analysis, ORA, is a new and exciting advance in cataract laser surgery. It gives our doctors the ability to further customize your vision after your IOL has been implanted. This cataract surgery measurement tool helps refine and enhance your vision during surgery, resulting in better postoperative vision. 

The ORA system allows our surgeons to determine in real-time your eye’s refraction or visual measurements. This means our surgeons can immediately make any necessary adjustments to the IOL to help ensure your best vision outcome. 

To help ensure proper IOL selection and refraction, all Custom and Lifestyle Cataract procedures include ORA as part of the surgical process. However, cataract surgery patients that elect to undergo Basic Cataract Surgery should consider ORA as well. Ask your doctor about using ORA during your cataract surgery. 

Following your cataract laser surgery, your eye’s capsule, which surrounds the lens, may become cloudy. This common condition can cause decreased vision, glare, or double vision. To treat this, our doctors use an effective and safe treatment with a Yag laser. It takes only a few minutes to perform, and most patients notice an improvement in their vision immediately. For more information on the Yag laser capsulotomy treatment, please watch the following video.

During Your Surgery

During cataract surgery, your doctor will make a microscopic incision on your cornea. Your doctor will then remove the cloudy lens and replace it with a new, clear, artificial intraocular lens (IOL). Depending on the procedure you choose, the incision may be made with a blade or a laser. At NEOES, we use the latest laser technology to make the most precise cataract incisions that help center the IOL. In total, your cataract procedure should take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

Post-Operative Care

Following your surgery, you can expect to be able to get back to normal activities within a few days. To help ensure that your treatment was effective, you should schedule post-operative check-ups one day, one week, one month, and typically three months then annually. There are also several things you can and can’t do following your cataract laser surgery.

Check Out the Post Op Checklist