Blog by Jared Younger, MD

A 72-year-old patient presented urgently with vision loss and ocular pain.

A firefighter in his early 50s presented with early subcapsular cataracts.

I recently performed cataract surgery on a 79-year-old man with high astigmatism.

As IOL technology evolves, my approach to lens selection has been changing right along with it.

In the past, I have tried the “mix-and-match” or “personalized vision” approach. However, I preferred in most cases to implant the same lens bilaterally.

Many surgeons have a refractive package for patients who are seeking spectacle independence at distance.

Increasingly sophisticated diagnostic tools provide new opportunities for better managing astigmatism in patients with cataract but also raise new challenges for surgeons trying to effectively synthesize all the information available to us.

Anyone who has performed femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery can attest to the precision of incision placement, intrastromal toric marks and capsulotomy centration.

The workflow for cataract surgery at our private ophthalmic ASC in Newport Beach, California, has been continually evolving with the advent of new technology.

It’s amazing to think of all the science and technology utilized for cataract surgery, from sophisticated biometry and preoperative surgical guidance and planning tools to the latest femtosecond lasers, phaco machines and multifocal IOLs.