My mother, 84, has cataracts. She’s been told that the surgery is more complicated because she has dry eye, and that there is a chance the surgery will not be successful. There is some confusion over whether “not successful” means “you won’t notice any improvement” or “your vision might get worse.” I’ll talk with the doctors next week, but any thoughts and opinions and experiences here would be welcome. Thanks in advance.
I’m not a doctor; the following is my own experience.
I am 71. A few years ago I had cataract surgery and developed a condition called “Map-dot-fingerprint dystrophy” and also a dry cornea. I’d had a variable-focus artificial lens put in, and when these two conditions finally cleared up, months and months later, the shape of the cornea had changed and I developed an astigmatism that the artificial lens couldn’t compensate for. As a result, I now have worse vision in the eye that was operated on and I see concentric rings around lights that are worse than the cataract in the untreated eye causes. In short, I am thousands of dollars poorer and have worse eyesight than I did before.
To be fair, the patient disclosure that everyone signs does list this outcome as a possibility. It is apparently very rare.
I’d guess that they’re saying either outcome, worse vision or no improvement, is possible. In my experience, doctors who can do surgery tend to want to do surgery. If they are raising red flags and are reluctant to proceed, I’d take that very seriously.
Of course, it depends on how bad the cataract is. If the cataract is advanced and her vision is minimal in that eye anyway, it might be worth it to her to take the chance.