Posterior Capsular Opacification

This happens after previous cataract surgery. For detailed information please click here to be redirected to the cataract pages.

What’s going on?

When we remove a cataract, we leave the back capsule in place to support the new intraocular lens. In a proportion of patients, residual lens cells may grow across this posterior capsule, resulting in opacity and reduced vision. This process usually takes more than a year.

What will my ophthalmologist do for me?

We can confirm the diagnosis and make sure there is no other cause for your reduced vision.  

A YAG (yttrium aluminium garnet) laser may used to make a hole in the thickened, opaque capsule with a piece of equipment like a slit lamp to allow clear vision. The process is completely painless and takes just a few minutes.

Your vision should improve virtually immediately after YAG laser treatment, and you should go back to your optician for further refraction after the treatment. Rarely after the procedure, the pressure in the eye can go up dramatically or the eye can become inflamed.

Recent treatment for Posterior Capsular Opacification - June 2017
Hi there, just a brief note to say how pleased I am with the service that you provided. I had cataract surgery in 2015 and after shortly afterwards my eyesight started to deteriorate, in one eye and then the other. Following several attempts to get to this corrected I had laser treatment for Posterior Capsular Opacification by Dr Alwitry.

He was very professional and I felt completely at ease during the treatment. My vision is massively improved. Just as he had predicted.

With much appreciation

AS