HOW TO CHOOSE A CATARACT SURGEON
You only have two eyes and entrusting them to the best eye surgeon in your area is crucial.
WE WILL HELP YOU FIND AN EXCELLENT EYE SURGEON NEAR YOU
If you would like professional help in selecting a specific eye surgeon in a certain geographical location with an excellent reputation and skill, contact us – we will consider your needs and give you the best recommendation that we can, using all the inside information available to us.
Sometimes, it is better to travel a little way to see the best, but we will always do our best to find the right surgeon for you.
OUR GENERAL SUGGESTIONS FOR SELECTING AN OUTSTANDING CATARACT SURGEON INCLUDE:
GET THE BASICS RIGHT
Make sure that your proposed surgeon is not a crook. Do they have a clear GMC record, with bona fide & believable qualifications from a reputable university / hospital?
Ensure that you meet them, or at the very least talk to them, in advance of the day of surgery. You don’t want to find yourself in a position ‘beyond the point of no return’ when you realise that your surgeon is perhaps not who you think they are…
GO PRIVATE
Having your cataract surgery privately is the simplest way of likely improving your chances of seeing well after surgery.
You will avoid having your operation done by a doctor-in-training (where complication rates have been shown to be higher), with easy access to your consultant at all stages in your treatment pathway. You choose when, where and by whom the procedure is done and have the choice of which type of intraocular lens is implanted.
It’s a very simple choice, and private cataract surgery represents excellent value compared to many other life-changing medical procedures.
OUTCOMES
Beware outlandish claims of outstanding results published on websites. If in print, it should be possible to establish exactly when and where such results pertain to; while historic success is a good guide to future success, good surgeons will only be too happy to tell you their current data outcomes.
We suggest that you ignore all data on the PHIN website, which can on occasion be many months or even years out of date and is not collected in a format that many surgeons believe is of any use to the profession or public.
Complication rates are important. Postoperative infection rates should be effectively zero and the surgeon’s rate of posterior capsule rupture for standard, non-complex cataract should be significantly less than 1%, and ideally 0.1% or less.
SKILLS / TRAINING
Is your surgeon a cataract specialist, or are they a Jack-of-all-trades? Some gifted surgeons can do everything well – and specialist knowledge can help advise you of this – but cataract specialists do little else, and hence should be well-practised.
What stage of their career is your proposed surgeon at? After completing around 10,000 cases, surgeons will have encountered just about every problem an eye can generate and such specialists are often better-placed to deal with the unexpected than the newly-qualified.
TESTIMONIALS
Testimonials from happy patients are always a good sign, but remember that in medicine, as in other professions, clients and customers often value the perception of their procedure / consultation more than what has actually occurred. Look for several testimonials, covering the whole surgical experience, ideally from very different people.
Occasionally, fellow professionals (opticians, optometrists and other eye surgeons) undergo cataract procedures themselves; it can be very telling who these eye experts choose to carry out their own surgeries. Testimonials from fellow eye professionals should be seen as a very good sign; they have typically seen surgeons’ results firsthand.
WORD-OF-MOUTH RECOMMENDATIONS
Far more powerful than any marketing is word-of-mouth recommendation. Friends & family will be able to testify to the character of the surgeon and outcomes achieved.
Some surgeons will be willing to put you in touch with previous patients, who have given their consent to share their experiences with you.
THE TECHNICAL DETAILS
HOW DOES YOUR PROPOSED SPECIALIST ALIGN PREMIUM LENSES WITHIN THE EYE?
Toric (astigmatic-correction) lenses need to be perfectly aligned to correct your eyesight. Worryingly, most surgeons in the world still use a protractor and a felt-tip pen to mark the eye to achieve such alignment, with such techniques introducing very significant errors before surgery is even commenced. Look for surgeons who use digital image-guidance technology as standard, providing both accuracy and precision.
WHAT SORT OF LOCAL ANAESTHETIC IS PROPOSED?
Regardless of the size of the eye, there is no need for any sort of injection in local anaesthetic cataract surgery. Surgeons should be using topical eyedrop anaesthetic, with no planned injections, which can otherwise be very dangerous. Some surgeons will tell you that an injection is needed to immobilise the eye. With appropriate skill & training, this is simply not the case.
KEEPING YOU CALM AND RELAXED DURING AN EYE PROCEDURE IS CRUCIAL
Skilled surgeons are very happy for you to have a relaxing diazepam (or Valium-style equivalent) pill beforehand. It’s really important to be as calm as you can, firstly for your own well-being, but also to allow your surgeon to have as perfect a surgical environment as possible, reducing your risk.
HOW WILL YOUR SURGEON KEEP YOU SAFE?
Disposable equipment is the gold standard, but many private hospital chains will insist on reusing equipment. How good is the airflow over the surgical field? Laminar airflow equipment, such as the TOUL Operio, leads to the lowest particulate count and infection rates are exceptionally low. Large operating theatre mechanical ventilation systems may achieve higher air exchanges, but the quality of the air needs to be monitored.
WHICH LENS OPTIONS DOES YOUR SPECIALIST ALLOW?
If all you carry is a hammer, then everything begins to look like a nail… Your specialist should have a range of lens options, covering all kinds of cataract corrections, and should be comfortable in the use of all. If laser-eye or lens-replacement surgery is the best option for you – and not cataract surgery – your specialist should be willing to advise that instead.
INVOLVEMENT IN TRAINING / EXAMINING
Does your specialist help train the next generation of surgeons? Working with trainee surgeons reinforces an attitude of quality and also exposes consultant surgeons to difficult and surprising complications on a more frequent basis than working alone. This can pay dividends in the face of an unexpected complication in the private sector.
AVOIDING THE CORPORATES
Some high-street eye surgery chains pay their surgeons on a high-volume, fee-per-case basis. Would you really want to be number 15 on an anonymous surgeon’s all-day list, where their remuneration for your care was not particularly great? Better to go direct to the individual surgeon and meet them in advance of the day of the procedure.
Some organisations utilise temporary facilities, which are hard to justify having such important surgery within. A ‘state-of-the-art’ cataract caravan is … still a caravan.
YOUR SURGEON’S ATTITUDE
Look for someone who consistently seeks excellence, not mediocrity; likewise, avoid those who appear content to rest on their laurels. There should be clear evidence of always striving to do better.
Is your specialist happy to be asked questions, and do they provide rational explanations, all of which make sense? Many surgeons do things because they’ve been taught to do so, rather because there’s a good reason to do so. Do they give you all the time you need to answer your questions, or are they rushing to see their next patient? How would they behave in surgery?
What do they associate themselves with? Do they seem content to work in a substandard environment, for example, a sloppy brand, dirty facilities, obvious spelling mistakes in literature / websites, or poor administrative services? These associations do not necessarily spell disaster, but they do imply that the specialist is content with mediocrity, rather than aiming for excellence.
FIND AN EYE SURGEON
If you would like professional help in selecting a specific eye surgeon in a certain geographical location with an excellent reputation and skill, we will consider your needs and give you the best recommendation that we can, using all the inside information available to us. Do have a look at the podcast interviews of some of the UK's top cataract surgeons, accessible in our video section.
Sometimes, it is better to travel a little way to see the best, but we will always do our best to find the right surgeon for you.