At all stages of your treatment pathway, you will receive my direct access telephone number. This will negate the need to go via any third party, such as a secretary or the hospital, in order to obtain any routine or urgent advice. I will be available 7 days a week for you in this regard. This is a very important aspect to the service I pride myself in providing, giving you the reassurance and confidence to make your journey through this difficult time as smooth and anxiety-free as possible.
This and all other aspects of the service I provide have resulted in very high satisfaction levels from my former patients, rating my service an average of 4.9/ 5 on Trustpilot.
The principal benefit is restoration of vision which was reduced due to the PCO. Risks of YAG laser are very small in experienced hands. Very occasionally, there can be inflammation or rises in eye pressure following laser, which is treatable with a short course of eye drops. There is a very small risk of minor damage to the lens implant. Fortunately, this seldom affects vision. There is also a very small risk (<1%) of developing a retinal detachment which would require surgery. There is also a small risk (<2%) of developing fluid in the central part of your retina (macular oedema) which would result in reduced vision. This is generally treatable with a course of eye drops. In all instances, Mr Balaggan is ideally placed to treat any of these rare complications.
No. You may feel gentle pressure from the contact lens used to focus the laser light and keep the eyelids open, but you will not feel any pain from the laser treatment.
It is normal to experience transient dark vision following the procedure. This resolves very quickly in 5-10 minutes. Your vision will be blurred due to the dilating drops, which take a few hours to wear off. It is also common to experience floaters arising from the capsular debris induced by the laser beam which float in the vitreous eye gel. These generally tend to settle in the few weeks following YAG laser treatment.
You will prescribed drops to use for 1 week to control mild inflammation. No other specific aftercare is ordinarily required.
You should arrange for someone else to drive you home following your treatment as the eye drops used to dilate your pupils may cause blurred vision. Most people are able to drive within a day following YAG laser capsulotomy, as long as they meet the legal criteria and feel safe to do so.
You may wish to take the rest of the day off following the procedure, principally as your eyes will be dilated, however you should be able to return to work the following day.
No. Once PCO has been treated it is extremely unlikely to return.