Wednesday, March 23, 2011

HOW TO CHOOSE A CATARACT SURGEON Part 4

Determine the Cataract Surgeon’s Experience Level & Commitment
Once you have identified some possible eye surgeons it is appropriate to call their office and speak with a counselor or surgery coordinator. Determine how often they do Cataract Surgery-they should do Cataract Surgery at least 2 days per month to maintain their skills. Determine how many total Cataract Operations they have done-it should generally be at least 500 to build proficiency. Determine whether they do their surgery in a hospital or outpatient ambulatory surgery center-you will be more comfortable and have a better overall experience at an ambulatory surgery center. Determine whether they use advanced technology intraocular lens implants such as lens implants for astigmatism and near vision correcting lens implants-they should, in order to offer you the best vision correction options in case you are a good candidate for one.

When investigating the background of Cataract Surgeons it is easy to get “over impressed” by their residency or fellowship training. While attending solid training programs may contribute to the “learning curve” it does not really indicate how well an eye surgeon can perform the Cataract Surgery procedure. Sometimes in the “best” training programs surgeons actually get very little surgical experience because the “superstar” faculty does all the surgery and they just assist. Visa versa, sometimes less well known training programs expose residents to a great deal of surgical experience-it’s about their experience not where they went.

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