Following cataract surgery, the natural capsule that the new plastic lens sits in can become thickened and opaque. This can cause the vision to become blurry again.
A relatively common occurrence after cataract surgery is posterior capsular opacification (PCO). During the cataract operation your surgeon inserts a clear plastic lens into the clear sac (capsule) of the eye. With time this capsule can become cloudy, interfering with light reaching the back of your eye. The resulting blurred vision gives a feeling as if the cataract is returning. This can happen weeks, months, or years after cataract surgery. Your surgeon can user laser to create a gap in the centre of the cloudy capsule, restoring clear vision. This procedure is called a YAG Laser Capsulotomy.
Following surgery to remove a cataract lens the posterior capsule undergoes secondary opacification, due to migration and proliferation of naturally occurring lens cells. The design of new plastic intraocular lenses reduces the tendency to capsular opacification, but it still occurs in over 20% of patients within 5 years of cataract surgery.
Posterior Capsular Opacification can cause decreased vision, blurred vision, glare, reduced contrast, halos around lights or difficulty reading.
