Dallas County Living Well Magazine January/February 2019 | Page 14

3 REASONS AN INCREASING NUMBER
Courtesy Key-Whitman Eye Center
OF YOUNGER PEOPLE ARE
GETTING CATARACT SURGERY
A
re your eyes feeling like
they have aged faster than
their years? You might have
early cataracts (clouding of
the clear lens in the eye).
If that’s the case, you are not alone.
More people are having cataract sur-
gery earlier in life than ever before.
We asked Key-Whitman Eye Center’s
President and Chief Surgeon Jeffrey
Whitman what this is the case.
No1: Cataracts can develop at
any age.
Even though most individuals develop
cataracts as they get older, that is not
the case for everyone. Dr. Whitman
explains, “Younger people can de-
velop cataracts. In fact, some babies
are born with cataracts that can be
corrected with surgery. You can also
get cataracts due to trauma to the eye
or from taking certain medications like
prednisone or steroids. We’re also
seeing more cases of cataracts in peo-
12
ple in their 40s and 50s due to envi-
ronmental reasons, possibly too much
exposure to UV light from the sun.”
No2: Cataract surgery is faster
and safer than ever before.
There’s great news! Thanks to ad-
vanced technology, cataract surgery
has never been safer than it is today.
Good-bye, scalpel. Say, “hello” to
high-tech, computer-guided laser.
“In the past, cataract surgery was very
basic. You had the eye surgeon, the
scalpel and the eye. Since the sur-
gery was all human controlled, it took
more time and effort to remove the
old lens, which could be much more
invasive. Now, with the advent of the
femtosecond laser, cataract surgery
has become safer and more efficient.
Not only do we have the laser to help
with the most delicate and microscopic
parts of the surgery, but the computer
control of that laser gives us the most
DALLAS COUNTY Living Well Magazine | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
accurate surgical results we’ve ever
had,” says Dr. Whitman.
No3: High-tech lens implants
could radically reduce the need for
glasses and contacts.
In the early days of cataract surgery,
the surgeon had to remove the cloudy
lens and implant a replacement lens
for distance vision. Today, we have
high-technology lens implant options
that can help with near, middle and
distance vision. In fact, many people
end up with better vision than they’ve
had in years.
According to Dr. Whitman, “As with
any surgery, we can’t literally turn
back time, but for those patients who
have been very nearsighted, farsight-
ed and dependent on glasses for most
of their lives, cataract surgery can be
a revelation. With the high-tech lens
implants available today, we can give
most patients very good quality dis-