When is Eye Surgery a Necessity?

Submitted by Elman Retina Group on February 29, 2016

When dealing with most eye conditions, treatment consists of eye drops, other medication, and sometimes eye exercises. As time goes on, your condition may worsen to the point where medication doesn’t work any more. Once this begins to affect your quality of life, it may be time to speak with our doctors about having eye surgery to correct the problem. The need for eye surgery is always decided on a case-by-case basis, and will always include consideration about how you function in your daily life.

Conditions That May Call for Eye Surgery

While some eye conditions, such as nearsightedness or farsightedness, can be fixed by laser surgery, these aren’t considered necessary procedures. Eyeglasses and contact lenses can correct the problem just as well as surgery can. With other eye problems, surgery is the only option to correct or save your eyesight.

Glaucoma

The interior of your eye is much like a swimming pool, in that fluid goes in one end and leaves through a sort of drain. Sometimes the small vessel at the bottom of the eyeball gets partially blocked and fluid can’t leave. Your eyeball can’t pop like a water balloon, but the increased pressure can severely damage your optic nerve, damaging your eyesight. When medication doesn’t work to lower the interior pressure any more, surgery may be necessary to prevent permanent eye damage.

Cataracts

Your eye has a natural lens through which you see and focus, just like in a camera. Over time, more than half of the population suffer from protein deposits that begin to stick to the lens. These deposits begin to affect the eyesight. Your vision can become cloudy or foggy, or colors may look yellow or brown. Surgery can fix this problem. If our doctors perform cataract surgery, they’ll replace your lens with a clear artificial one.

If you have questions about eye surgery, call the Elman Retina Group at 410-220-2289. Our doctors are retinal specialists, and are uniquely qualified to put your mind at ease about any questions you may have.