CONSULTANT OPHTHALMIC SURGEON
CATARACT FAQs
Cataract Surgery
How is Cataract Surgery Performed?
How is the Artificial Lens Chosen?
What About Using Lasers for Cataract Surgery?
What Does Post-Operative Care Involve?
What are the Possible Complications?
CATARACT AND GLAUCOMA
Cataract and Glaucoma
Visual Prognosis
Are Glaucoma Eyes At Increased Risk Of Complication During Cataract Surgery?
Does Cataract Surgery Help Lower IOP?
What About Cataract Surgery And Glaucoma Surgery?
What About Cataract Surgery And Glaucoma Surgery?
As glaucoma and cataract are both diseases of ageing, they frequently co-exist. However, generally speaking combining cataract surgery with trabeculectomy surgery is avoided as the risk of long-term failure through scarring is higher than when carrying out the procedures separately.
Cataract surgery in eyes with previous trabeculectomy is associated with a 30-40% chance of the trabeculectomy failing, meaning that one will need to restart IOP-lowering drops or to have further intervention such as needling.
The risk of failure is probably much lower in eyes with pre-existing tubes.
Experienced glaucoma surgeons are perhaps best equipped to perform cataract surgery in patients with previous glaucoma surgeries or with advanced glaucoma. At the very least, cataract surgery performed by non-glaucoma specialists should be undertaken in close consultation with the patient's managing glaucoma specialist.