Laser Vs Knife Cataract Surgery

One in three mostly older americans will have the surgery at some point in their lives.

Laser vs knife cataract surgery. In laser cataract surgery a laser is used to make the incision and lens opening explained dr. Ultrasound waves break the cataract into tiny pieces which are then removed. Not all cataract surgery is done by a laser these days. Clinical evidence supporting the supposition that femtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery will actually produce better outcomes than manual cataract surgery has been limited at best but there is some reason to believe it may.

Traditional surgery traditional cataract surgery in which the surgeon uses a knife to make a small incision in the eye to replace a clouded intraocular lens is covered by medicare. Laser cataract surgery more than 1 5 million cataract surgeries are performed annually in the u s. It is recognized as being safe and effective. For example in a study in the journal of cataract and refractive surgery researchers examined the eyes of 170 people who had laser cataract surgery.

But cadwell wanted laser cataract surgery which is newer more technically advanced and as one might suspect more expensive. One of the best justifications for adopting a new approach to any surgery is that it produces better outcomes than the existing method. During laser assisted cataract surgery your doctor typically uses the laser to make all incisions and to soften the cataract for removal by ultrasound phacoemulsification. The laser may be useful when correcting for astigmatism aligning an astigmatism correcting intraocular lens or softening a dense cataract.

The procedure is safe and effective but according to the american academy of opthalmology laser cataract surgery is more costly than the traditional method and the cost is not. Laser surgery for cataracts is the removal of a lens that has a cataract followed by replacement of the lens in the eye with an artificial prescription lens. Laser or advanced cataract surgery will provide the same outcome as traditional cataract surgery but the difference is in the tools used and overall method. Laser cataract surgery is not covered by most insurance plans.

Laser cataract surgery also called refractive laser assisted cataract surgery relacs is an advanced type of cataract surgery that uses femtosecond laser technology to bring a new level of precision and accuracy to specific steps in cataract surgery that traditionally have been performed with hand held surgical tools. It costs more than traditional cataract surgery as well. Traditional cataract surgery is one of the most common surgeries in the world. Traditional cataract surgery and.

Laser assisted blade free cataract surgery both reduces the number of instruments used and increases the precision of the procedure.