Topic Overview
Cataracts may occur in people who also have
glaucoma. This commonly occurs in older adults.
If you have glaucoma and cataracts, you may consider having surgery
for both conditions at the same time. Depending on which condition caused the
vision loss, you may have improved vision after surgery.
- If the vision loss before surgery was mostly
caused by the cataract, you may have noticeable improvement in your vision.
Also, surgery may delay the progression of vision loss caused by
glaucoma.
- If the vision loss before surgery was mostly caused by
glaucoma, rather than the cataract, you may not have much improvement in vision
after surgery. But surgery may slow the loss of vision caused by
glaucoma.
Cataract surgery
alone is quicker and less complicated than having both surgeries at the same
time.
In many cases
where glaucoma and cataract occur together, surgery to treat both conditions
may be done at the same time.
If you have both glaucoma and cataracts, talk with your doctor about
the benefits and risks of combined surgery to treat both conditions.
Credits
| By | Healthwise Staff |
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| Primary Medical Reviewer | Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine |
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| Specialist Medical Reviewer | Christopher J. Rudnisky, MD, MPH, FRCSC - Ophthalmology |
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| Last Revised | February 28, 2012 |
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