CATARACT SURGERY PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE SURGERY

Transcription

1 Dr. A. C. Crichton s Office: 102, 49 Richard Way S.W. Calgary, Alberta T3E 7M , fax Questions: call Heather , ext 2 Before Surgery Medical: A-scan: CATARACT SURGERY PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE SURGERY -A medical must be done by your family doctor approximately 1 month before Medicals are valid for 3 months provided there are no health changes. -Take the attached medical form to your doctor to be completed. -If you fail to have medical done, your surgery will be postponed. -This is a measurement of your eye necessary for the cataract surgery and done at Dr. Crichton s office. -If you wear contact lenses, you must NOT wear your contacts for 3 consecutive weeks prior to this test. -If you fail to have the A-scan done, your surgery will be postponed (see Cataract Discussion Highlights page) - Your appointment: Eye drops: -You need to start your eye drops 2 days prior to your - Your prescription and instructions are attached Surgery Date and Time: RIGHT: am/pm LEFT: am/pm -Time is given is walk in the door time, Total length of time there is approx. 2 hours, from start to finish. Location: Parking: SURGICAL CENTRES INC. Rockyview Health Centre II(Not Rockyview Hospital) Suite 120, Ave SW, Calgary, Alberta (behind Mayfair Place) Pay parking available in main parking lot, enter in main doors. You should not drive yourself home from

2 IMPORTANT CATARACT SURGERY INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE SURGERY If you are on Coumadin, have your INR checked 4 business days before Start your Zymar eye drops to the surgery eye 2 days before your Do not have any solid food or milk products after midnight before surgery, this includes gum or candy. Do not drink any alcoholic beverages for 24 hrs before Stop drinking clear fluids 3 hours before surgery (e.g. black tea/coffee, apple juice, water). Your operation may be cancelled due to acute medical conditions (e.g. severe cold). If in doubt, contact your surgeon s office prior to Take all your medications as normal before surgery with sips of water (it may be best to take Diabetes medications after surgery with something to eat; please review with your family doctor) If you use glaucoma drops in the surgery eye, take them the morning of THE DAY OF SURGERY It is recommended that you arrange to have someone accompany you to and from Please bring a pharmacy generated list of all medications that you are currently taking as well as your Alberta Health Card. (If a list is unavailable, please bring your medications to the surgery centre in the original containers.) Wear loose comfortable clothing, nothing tight or constricting i.e. nylons. Please do not wear jewelry or makeup. If you wear contact lenses, please remove them before You may resume wearing makeup 5 days after You will check in at Surgical Centres Inc. reception area. There is a waiting room if your driver needs to wait. They will have you sign a consent form and then take you to the back to see the anesthetist. He will administer the topical or local anesthetic. Local anesthetic will freeze the whole side of your face. Once the anesthetic has taken effect, you walk to the surgical suite where Dr. Crichton will do your You will lie on a surgical bed while covered with a sterile surgical drape. The surgery itself takes about minutes and you will be awake for the whole procedure. After surgery Dr. Crichton will put bandages and an eye shield over your eye. You will be given a prescription for two other drops on the way out. See below for instructions.

3 AFTER SURGERY Go home & rest. Resting quietly the day of surgery is recommended. Wear your eye shield all day and through the first night. The morning after surgery, remove the eye shield and bandages. Continue your Zymar drops and start the Voltaren and Maxidex drops, as per the prescription you will receive at the surgical center. Leave 5 minutes between types of drops; continue as per instructions. You will have to return to Crichton s office for: o 1 day check - Thursday at 12:30 PM o 2 week check - will be given to you after surgery o 6 week check - will be given to you after surgery You may eat regular meals following Take all your other medications as normal. POST-OPERATIVE ADVICE FOLLOWING SURGERY If you have any questions about your eyes, please call the office. You may experience numbness of your face, eye and head for up to 6 hours after If you experience discomfort, you may take Tylenol as recommended. If there is a decrease in vision or an increase in pain, please contact Dr. Crichton s office immediately (day time hours). After hours, to receive telephone advice call Calgary Health Link at For emergencies, go to the nearest Emergency Department at the closest hospital. Wear a protective eye shield. Protect your eye when you are sleeping for two weeks. Tape to face with tape or fix the eye shield with string (e.g. like a pirate patch). Your wound is healing and it will not be firm enough to stand too much pressure for about six weeks. Avoid closing the eyes tightly, especially when laughing, talking, sneezing, coughing, yawning or if they feel irritated. Never rub or touch the eye. Take care when washing face. Avoid getting soap in your eye. If there is a lot of discharge from the eye, wipe off the lids with moist cotton, but avoid exerting pressure on the eye, particularly the upper lid Avoid stooping, straining, and lifting for two weeks. You may bend over to put shoes on. Vigorous activities should be discussed with Dr. Crichton at your two week appointment. Continue to be careful at home. It is impossible to list all the activities you should avoid. Wash your hands thoroughly before and after putting in eye drops and ointments. You may go outdoors for a walk or drive. It is not necessary to cover the eye but it is important to shield it from bright sunlight by using sunglasses. You may have the feeling of something in the eye because of the incision, but do not close it tightly. This feeling may persist for a few weeks. You may wear your old glasses if helpful. If you have any difficulties, please speak to one of the technicians. At your 6 week post-op visit, Dr. Crichton will help you decide if you need to see an Optometrist for a new prescription for glasses.

4 HOW TO INSTILL EYE DROPS 1. Pull your lower lid down with one hand forming a pouch and look up. 2. Put one drop of medicine in the pouch. Don t touch the tip of the bottle to your lid, eyelashes or any other place. 3. Leave 5 minutes between insertion of drops. 4. If the above is difficult, lie on the bed and repeat above instructions while looking up at the dropper. 5. Do not take any eye medications that have not been prescribed to you by your doctor or nurse.

5 CATARACT DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS (will be reviewed with technician at A-Scan appointment) 1. Surgery Package : please review -medical form in package; MUST be completed by family dr prior to surgery -start Zymar 2 days prior to surgery 4 times per day (prescription and instructions in paperwork) -Surgery Center: Rm. 120, th Ave SW (behind Mayfair Place) -No food after midnight the night before surgery: clear fluids (water, apple juice, tea/coffee without milk/sugar) are permitted until 3hrs before surgery, then nothing. 2. Please instill artificial tears into both eyes four times/day for 5 days prior to your A- Scan appointment. Please do NOT instill any drops in your eyes the last hour before your appointment. Soft contact lenses must be out for 2 weeks prior to these measurements (hard contacts 3 weeks prior). Please advise staff if you take or have ever taken Flomax, Hytrin or Avodart medication or if you have ever had eye surgery before. 2. Target outcome with Cataract Surgery: Cataract surgery breaks up your natural lens (now a cataract) by using ultrasound and fluid. This lens is then replaced with an implanted, artificial lens. The power of this lens depends on the A-Scan measurements/calculations and your preferred outcome. Most commonly, distance vision is targeted thus aiming to eliminate distance glasses. Reading glasses, however, would still be required for any activities within arms length. Some people may prefer the opposite however, which would be to aim to read without glasses. In this scenario, glasses would then be required for anything beyond arms length. If you have astigmatism, you may qualify for correction with a Toric implant. This is a specialty lens and thus not paid for by Alberta Health; there is a $835 fee per eye due at the time of Individual healing responses vary and we cannot guarantee the exact outcome of your surgery; however, if you have astigmatism you are significantly less likely to require glasses for distance with the Toric implant. 3. Risks of Surgery: There is approximately a 1% risk factor associated with cataract surgery, with the majority of the potential risks being treatable. Risks include, but are not limited to, inflammation, corneal irritation, increased light sensitivity, infection, retinal detachment, additional surgery, and blindness. 4. Instructions for after surgery: -(Dr. Crichton s patients): leave patch on eye until morning after surgery then you may remove it -(Dr. Crichton and Ford s patients): tape clear shield over eye at night for 2 weeks after surgery -use drops as instructed, ensuring to leave 5 minutes between different drops -refrain from rubbing eye, bending over and lifting over 15lbs for two weeks after surgery; ensure to keep hands clean when instilling drops

6 Pre-Surgery Medical Form DUE BY 2 WEEKS BEFORE SURGERY (VALID FOR 3 MONTHS ONLY) Dear Dr., Your patient has been scheduled to have surgery at: SURGICAL CENTRES INC. Ste. 120, 68 Ave SW, Calgary, AB Please provide a complete history and physical examination on this form and fax to: DR. CRICHTON Fax SEND ASAP!! If your patient is on Coumadin please arrange for INR blood work to be done 4 business days prior to surgery and fax the results ASAP. Patient s Name Date of Surgery Procedure ADMITTING DIAGNOSIS HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS Past Medical Hx - Medication List - - Recent Steroid use- - Flomax/Hytrin/Avodart use- - Drug Allergies- - Previous Surgery- - Anesthetic Problems- - Functional Inquiries (Systems Inventory) No Yes Cardiovascular Respiratory/Smoking Heptic Renal Nervous System Endocrine Musculoskeletal System Blood or Coagulation Disorders Pulse BP Weight Height (approx.) Normal Abnormal If Abnormal give details EENT Cardiovascular Respiratory Abdominal Nervous System Musculoskeletal Other (Specify) FIT FOR SURGERY? YES NO Date Dr. Name Office Phone # Dr. A. Crichton PRAC. ID #