Cataract surgery is a safe and effective procedure that can help restore vision and improve quality of life. However, it is generally not recommended to have cataract surgery on both eyes at the same time. This is because it can take several weeks for the eyes to heal, and during this time, vision will be compromised. In most cases, you'll have to wait 2 to 6 weeks for the eye to fully heal before proceeding with the second eye.
This allows the eye doctor to ensure that everything heals properly without complications. While cataract surgery is safe and the complications of cataract surgery are rare, many doctors are wary that simultaneous bilateral cataract surgery (SBCS) makes patients more vulnerable to eye infections, some of which can cause blindness. On the other hand, some doctors believe that SBCS can be beneficial in certain cases. For example, patients who live far away from their doctor or who consider visiting the doctor to be a very stressful experience may benefit from having cataract surgery on both eyes at the same time.
In addition, performing cataract surgery on each eye on different days allows the surgeon and the patient to evaluate the visual outcome of the first surgery, which could influence the decisions made for the second surgery. A cataract screening test will determine if your vision problems are due to the development of a cataract in the lens of the eye and your degree of maturity. This approach allows the first eye to recover and your vision in that eye to stabilize before surgery is performed on the other eye. You won't need to have cataract surgery unless cataracts affect your vision significantly. Your doctor will likely want your vision in the first eye to recover before performing surgery on the second eye. The benefits of cataract surgery on both eyes on the same day include fewer office visits, faster recovery of binocular vision for driving and other critical tasks, and a faster return to normal life.
Today, most people have cataract surgery in both eyes on different days, with a period of days, weeks, or even months between surgeries, which is called sequential delayed bilateral cataract surgery (DSBCS).
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