Cataracts
Will my cataracts come back?
Duration 1:12
Vaughan Tanner, a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeons at Sapphire Eye Care, explains that your cataracts won’t come back. He explains that you may experience further vision changes, but that they are usually quick and painless to address.
Vaughan Tanner, a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeons at Sapphire Eye Care, explains that your cataracts won’t come back. He explains that you may experience further vision changes, but that they are usually quick and painless to address.
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No, cataracts can’t regrow. The cataract is the natural lens, and once it’s removed with surgery, you can’t develop another cataract. There are, however, other terms used, such as after cataract or second cataract, and these phrases are referring to the little bag that is used to hold the plastic lens in the eye. This lens capsule bag often becomes opaque and reacts to the presence of the plastic lens, becoming rather cloudy. Symptoms are similar in some people to the original cataract, but treatment is much simpler, requiring what is known as a YAG laser capsulotomy to clear the capsule behind the lens, which remains in place. The need for this procedure is around 10 to 20% at the five year interval. It increases the longer the duration of time from the initial surgery. Modern lenses are carefully designed to help decrease the risk of YAG laser capsulotomy being needed.
