The patient is awake but sedated as Dr.
Lee and her team go to work.
is one of the most common and most successful surgeries
taking place today.
Cataracts are the deterioration (or denaturation) of proteins
in the lens, causing vision to become blurry or dull. The body
will not correct this change on its own, so corrective surgery
is required. To restore eyesight to its former glory (or even
better), the cataractous lens must be replaced with an artifi-
cial intraocular lens. Glaucoma and astigmatism can also be
corrected during this procedure.
look anything but silly. So naturally, I chose to walk around
with hairnets on both feet instead. Later on, one of the nurses
playfully asked “Who dressed you?” and I unfortunately had
to answer that I alone was responsible.
Thankfully, that was far from the most important thing taking
place that day. Dr. Lee welcomed me to the process, made
sure my facemask was in place and we went directly into the
OR. I walked in filled with anticipation, boldly going where
only a few non-health care professionals had gone before.
When I arrived at Dupont, that was just about the extent
of my knowledge of the subject. I knew that the original lens
was replaced, but what I didn’t know could fill books (and
surely it has). In the room, I had a seat near the patient’s feet. She was
mildly sedated, but still conscious. The lights were dimmed
and Dr. Lee went to work. The sound of soft piano played
from a speaker behind me.
Dr. Lee was performing close to a dozen surgeries that
morning. As I was led to the operating rooms, I was asked
to put on scrubs of course. Well, my feet are huge, and no
matter how much I tried, those shoe covers weren’t going to Once the patient’s eye has been prepared, the incision is
made and the surgery begins. The cataract protein is broken
either by a laser beforehand or in person by the surgeon. The
instrument used to break up the protein uses high frequency
VITAL SIGNS Volume 12 • Issue 1
3