Cataract Surgery in Crystal Lake

Offering Pre-Operative & Post-Operative Care

Don’t Let Cataracts Cloud Your Vision

Over 50% of people aged 65 and older have a cataract in one or both eyes. As the cataract progresses, vision deteriorates, leading to a decreased quality of life. Fortunately, cataract surgery can easily treat this condition.

What Are Cataracts?

Cataracts are cloudy patches that develop on the lens of your eye. Cataracts can cause blurred or double vision, may increase light sensitivity and interfere with driving, especially at night. Without cataract surgery, millions of people around the world would be unable to see clearly.

The most common symptoms include:

Blurred or double vision
Trouble seeing at night
Sensitivity to glare
Colored halos around lights
Colors appearing more faded
Requiring brighter light for reading

When to Get Cataract Surgery

As we evaluate your eye health and vision, we'll carefully examine your lens for signs of cataract formation. If a cataract is detected and the clouding is causing visual disruption, our optometrist will refer you to a trusted surgeon for cataract surgery. Coventry EyeCare Associates will be there for you, providing pre and post cataract surgery care.

As the condition begins to seriously impair your vision and adversely affects your daily life, impacting your ability to read, drive, watch TV or recognize faces, you should seriously consider surgery.

Benefits of Cataract Surgery

High success rate

Cataract surgery, one of the world’s most commonly performed surgeries, has a 95% success rate.
Quick and convenient

This procedure can take just 30 to 45 minutes in an outpatient setting or hospital.
Prevents other eye problems

Removing cataracts can reduce the risk of eye inflammation and pressure inside the eye–a leading cause of glaucoma.
Rapid recovery time

Patients start seeing more clearly within a few days. Colors may seem brighter thanks to the new, clear lens.

How to Prepare for Cataract Surgery

Apply antibiotic or anti-inflammatory eyedrops a few days before surgery if instructed to by your eye doctor
Arrange for a ride after the surgery, since you won’t be able to drive
Wash your face in the morning of the procedure and don’t wear eye makeup, strong perfumes or aftershave

What Happens During Cataract Surgery

Cataract surgery removes your natural cloudy lens and replaces it with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL) to improve and restore vision. This common and very safe procedure is performed by an eye doctor (ophthalmologist) on an outpatient basis.

The eye surgeon (ophthalmologist) will perform cataract surgery on one eye at a time. That means that you will come in for another surgery on the second eye. The procedure is brief and typically takes 30 to 45 minutes to complete.
The eye doctor will place drops into your eyes to numb them and dilate your pupils. Though you’ll be conscious during the procedure, you may be offered a sedative to help you remain calm. The eye surgeon will then remove your natural lens and replace it with the IOL. You should feel no pain or discomfort thanks to the anesthetic.

Cataract Surgery After-Care

After surgery, you may feel a bit drowsy as an after-effect of the sedative. Your eye doctor will prescribe eye drops to prevent infection, inflammation and to reduce pressure within your eye. The surgeon may recommend that you wear an eye patch for a few days after your surgery and the protective shield when you sleep during the recovery period. Make sure to avoid rubbing your eyes or touching them unless necessary.

A day after cataract surgery, we'll provide a post-operative eye exam to make sure that all is well. Your Crystal Lake optometrist will further perform a series of follow-up exams in the weeks and months to come. If determined that you require corrective lenses following your cataract surgery, we'll make sure you get the proper prescription.

Cataract Surgery Management FAQs

What are side effects of cataract surgery?

While side effects are rare, there are some issues that people commonly encounter in the days after surgery, as the eyes heal.

Dry eye
Feeling that something is in the eye
Blurry vision
Light sensitivity

If any of these side effects do not subside within a week or two, please contact Coventry EyeCare Associates.

Can I delay cataract surgery

You can delay cataract surgery, but keep in mind that your vision will likely worsen the longer you put off the procedure.

When is cataract surgery not recommended?

Cataract patients who also have age-related macular degeneration or retinal detachment may not respond well to cataract surgery and the new lens may not correct vision.

Can cataract surgery give me 20/20 vision?

If you had great vision before developing cataracts, it’s likely that cataract surgery will restore your sight. Moreover, the IOL inserted into your eye can be designed to correct refractive errors, providing you with clear vision.

Patient Reviews

4.7

100 Reviews

- Oct. 29, 2024

REVIEW UPDATE: I wanted to change my review to 5 stars. The office manager, I believe her name was D... Show Moreeb, reached out to me and went above and beyond to apologize. I still feel confident recommending Conventry to anyone I know. Customer service here has always been great and they have turned my experience into something positive. I have come here for a couple years and have always liked it as well as liking their doctors. But this last year after using a new prescription of contacts I noticed a lot of problems with my right eye. Nothing major at first to notice really, but after about 5-6 months I realized how blurry my vision was. I’ve had bad experiences in the past with eye doctors (not here) who would downplay minor concerns I’ve had with the strength of my prescription, or tell me my actual prescription has actually lowered not increased. With that in mind I’ve figured I would just trust my eye doctor at eye conventry and the issues with my right eye was probably just natural degeneration from age. I told myself I would bring it up at my next eye doctor appointment as long as there was no pain. Another thing I’ve also had a big increase of migraines this year, more than I’ve ever had. I actually also hit a curb which popped my tire in the right side of my car from my blurry vision. I just figured all this was random things not connected with one another. At my yearly doctor appointment Saturday, they noticed me struggle with my right eye even with my contacts. After getting put into a room they asked me multiple questions about my right eye. I had mentioned how it had really bothered me but I just figured it was in my head or I would just a night prescription. They focused a lot of questions on my right eye which actually scared me, I started to think there may actually be something seriously wrong. After about 5 minutes l the doctor arrived and continued asking me questions about my right eye which was increasing my anxiety about something being wrong. The doctor seemed nervous right from the beginning and after asking some more questions, he finally admitted that they had made a clerical error on my prescription. He seemed to change the subject rather quickly and I was just relieved that I was okay. After a few minutes I realized how weird a clerical error sounded and rounded back and asked what the actual error was. Apparently the prescription they gave me had my Y axis as 1.0, what it was supposed to actually be is a 10!!!! I started to ask more questions if this is why I’ve had so many migraines this year, and was this why I struggled so much to see things, and he said yes this could have caused all of this. He also admitted that he’s not sure how this happened, he even double checks all prescriptions but somehow they messed up. Again me being relieved that nothing was wrong I let it go. But days later the more think about the more upset I am getting. I struggle financially so to realize I paid over $700 for contacts that were so completely wrong, to pay for something that caused me constant migraines which resulted in me needing to call off work, and for me realize this contributed to me having a hard time seeing and hitting a curb. I wasn’t offered replacement contacts or a discount on the exam or a real apology, I just seemed like such a minor thing to them. I really trusted this eye doctor and I understand mistakes happen, but this really affected me for almost a full year. I still have to use these contacts!!! I need to save replace them with my new prescription which will be again over $700, so until then these are all I have.I wish they could have done more to rectify this and I very disappointed.