I have a film over my eyes after cataract surgery how soon can I have laser surgery done?

Yag capsulotomy is a safe procedure but it's safer ( as others have listed reasons) if you wait 3-4 months after the original cataract surgery.There are rare, but more serious, complications (retinal detachment or cystoid macular edema)  that have been reported to be of higher incidence when done before 90 days.Yag capsulotomy is easy to do, so easy it's one of the first things they teach ophthalmologist to do. But even perfectly performed, there is an increased risk of rare complications when done too soon.Good luck to you.

Dr. Dello Russo responds:    there are a number of causes for a cloudiness after cataract surgery. Let's deal with the most common cause. A clouding  of the clear film layer ( of the bag)  into which the IOL is placed.   About half the time this clear film eventually clouds. It is extremely easily to poke a small hole in this film with a specific laser designed only for this purpose.   The YAG laser was introduced by a French eye surgeon in 1980. I myself bought the third yag laser in the US in1981. It was a great advance in safety. Before the yag we needed to use a knife to puncture a hole in the film.

Thank you for your question. If the cloudy vision has been there since the immediate time after cataract surgery, then you and your doctor should carefully evaluate for causes such as swelling of the macula/retina (CME) or have a good post-operative refraction performed to be certain that the clouding is simply not due to a need for eyeglasses. It is true that it is extremely common to get clouding or haze in the posterior capsule (the membrane which hold the lens implant), but in 95% of cases this takes at least one year or more to develop. There are, however, special circumstances whereby this clouding of the posterior capsule can occur relatively soon after cataract surgery. This can easily be diagnosed by your ophthalmologist with a dilated eye examination. If indeed the cloudy vision is due to clouding of the posterior capsule, then a simply YAG laser capsulotomy is performed in the office which takes only a couple of minutes and this clouding will be gone. Typically, I recommend waiting a minimum of 3 months following cataract surgery to perform the laser treatment. Good luck!
Emilio M. Justo, MD
Medical Director
Arizona Eye Institute & Cosmetic Laser Center