Ever wondered about the intricacies of cataract surgery? Brace yourself for a thrilling journey as we uncover the truth about laser assisted procedures, the role of insurance, and the importance of meeting specific criteria to qualify for surgery. Hosted by Dr. Laura Falco, we debunk myths and shine light on this delicate procedure where precision and expertise matter.
As we venture deeper, we explore the varied lens options on the table: single vision, distance monofocal, and toric lenses for those with astigmatism. Dr. Falco also unravels the fascinating world of multifocal lenses, their unique design, benefits, and potential drawbacks. However, it's not just about the lenses; your personal prescription and eye health significantly influence your choices. Learn why understanding your visual needs and effectively communicating them to your optometrist is the key to the best outcome. So tune in and arm yourself with valuable knowledge, whether you're considering cataract surgery or simply curious about the process.
Ever wondered about the intricacies of cataract surgery? Brace yourself for a thrilling journey as we uncover the truth about laser assisted procedures, the role of insurance, and the importance of meeting specific criteria to qualify for surgery. Hosted by Dr. Laura Falco, we debunk myths and shine light on this delicate procedure where precision and expertise matter.
As we venture deeper, we explore the varied lens options on the table: single vision, distance monofocal, and toric lenses for those with astigmatism. Dr. Falco also unravels the fascinating world of multifocal lenses, their unique design, benefits, and potential drawbacks. However, it's not just about the lenses; your personal prescription and eye health significantly influence your choices. Learn why understanding your visual needs and effectively communicating them to your optometrist is the key to the best outcome. So tune in and arm yourself with valuable knowledge, whether you're considering cataract surgery or simply curious about the process.
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or contact: (954) 473-0100
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Jazzy Eyes podcast. Taking care of your vision with expert precision. Here's your host, dr Laura Falco.
Jeremy:
Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Jazzy Eyes podcast. I'm your co-host, jeremy Wolfe. I'm joined by your host, dr Laura Falco. Dr Falco, fancy meeting you here again so soon. We were just talking about cataracts and the various symptoms that one would experience when they have cataracts, and we were going to kind of get into what to do when they need to actually get surgery and seek a referral to get these matters corrected, correct.
Dr. Falco:
So your vision starts to decrease. You're no longer correctable to 2020. And, just like any other body part, you think, ok, I don't like the vision, I want to have the cataract surgery. But the reality is insurance kind of dictates what the vision has to be before we can send. I don't send patients unless the insurance is going to chip in and cover the procedure. So there's a certain amount of decreased vision that you have to have before you qualify for a referral. So let's say you've met that criteria and I'm going to send you for cataract surgery. I'm going to send you to see an ophthalmologist.
Dr. Falco:
So the first thing I want people to know is there is a type of surgery called laser assisted, but there is not a purely laser cataract surgery. So it does involve cutting. It does involve a blade, it involves removing the lens and putting in an implant. Now, laser assisted exists and they will use a laser in conjunction with the blade, but it's not LASIK, it's not PRK, it's not the type of surgery that is only done via laser. There is also cutting involved. A lot of people think it's purely laser and when you go speak to the ophthalmologist, based on your particular eye conditions, your prescription is part of it. If you have specific retinal conditions, you are going to be given certain choices of lenses based upon your eye. So everybody isn't going to get all the choices because if you suffer from certain retinal diseases macular degeneration for example they're not gonna offer you all the different choices. There are specific lenses as implants that you're going to be qualified for based on your prescription and your eye health. But the choices that pretty much exist out there are one that is called single vision or we call it distance monofocal, where the goal of cataract surgery is to remove the lenses and put in lenses where you really don't need any glasses to see far away. Sometimes you might need a little light prescription to sharpen up a sharp 2020, but the goal of distance monofocal, which is distance one focal point, is to not need glasses for distance. Some people have a lot of astigmatism in their prescription and when that happens they have to get a lens that's called a Toric lens to correct for the astigmatism, to try to achieve that goal of no glasses for distance and lenses do come like that.
Dr. Falco:
Some people wanna have a multi focal, which means the lens itself can. You can see distance, the intermediate and a little bit of close, you likely need a light reader for small, small printer prolonged reading. That implant works very differently. It's a different material and it works very differently than the distance monofocal.
Dr. Falco:
If you think about a record where the songs are those circles, like when you would put a record on a record player and you would see a short song would have concentric rings that are very close together and then you would get to like a stairway to heaven and there would be a very large flat space between the concentric rings on a record. That is how a lot of the multi focal lenses work. They have concentric rings and different focal points. Some people really like that because they don't have to wear glasses pretty much at all. Some people have a little bit of glare halos and don't love the concentric rings. So I think it's really important that your optometrist really understands your needs and the type of visually specific person you are. What I mean by that is, I have some patients who anything less than 2020 sharp is unacceptable. And then I have some patients who walk in saying they don't need glasses at all and they can barely see 2200 and they like living in that world, stubborn folk.
Dr. Falco:
So when your doctor knows you and understands you how you like to see, then you work together with your optometrist. So when you go into that referral you go in well educated and you have an idea of what your choice will be and what the right implant for you is.
Jeremy:
Very interesting and you touched. I didn't wanna stop you as you were talking to give explanations for all the different terms you focused upon or you touched upon. There was macular degeneration, there were a couple of other terms that kind of went over my head. I think what we should do is, in another segment later kind of unpack some of those other terms so that folks can get a better understanding. Dr Falco, anything else you'd like to share on that subject?
Dr. Falco:
No, I think you'll hear the rest from my associate, dr Newin, and enjoy your Cyber Monday.
Jeremy:
All right, I shall. Always a pleasure. Thanks everyone for tuning in and we will catch you on the next episode. Everyone take care.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to the Jazzy Eyes podcast. For more information, visit jazzyeyescom or contact 954-473-010.