YAG LASER POSTERIOR CAPSULOTOMY
 
In Yag Laser Posterior Capsulotomy, painless laser light is used improve your vision by opening a cloudy thin membrane that develops behind your lens implant months or years after cataract surgery.
In cataract surgery, a cloudy lens is removed and replaced with a clear artificial lens implant. A cataract is a little like a grape – it has a cloudy meat and a clear, thin skin. During routine cataract surgery, the cloudy meat is removed and the back side of the clear, thin skin is left behind.

That thin back skin of the cataract is called the “posterior capsule” and it helps to support the lens implant, initially. The posterior capsule starts out clear, like plastic-wrap, so you can see through it without problems.

But, in everybody who has cataract surgery, that back thin skin, or posterior capsule, gradually turns cloudy, like wax-paper, over time. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years for the posterior capsule to turn cloudy enough to interfere noticeably with clear vision. The average time is about two years.
 
When decreased vision from a cloudy posterior capsule, (also called a “secondary membrane”) becomes bothersome, the central portion of the cloudy capsule can be removed with a quick, painless laser light treatment known as a “Yag laser posterior capsulotomy.” The procedure usually takes less than a minute to complete. First, your eye is dilated, and then numbed with a drop of anesthetic.
 
Then, you are seated at the laser machine, which looks about the same as the examining microscope that is used in the office. The doctor focuses the laser light precisely on the cloudy membrane and delivers the treatment in pulses about 1/10th of a second long. The laser light bursts a hole in the center of the cloudy membrane that you can see through, without significantly affecting any other structures inside the eye. There is no pain at all. All you experience is flashing of the laser light and a clicking noise. There is no operating room, no anesthesiologist, no IV, no laying down, no undressing, and no pain!
 
Immediately after the procedure, you will probably experience moderately blurred vision and small floating spots. Both can last up to a few hours. The vision is usually improved by the next day. There is no restriction of your activities, though you should have someone with you to drive you home from the procedure, since your vision will be a little blurred, temporarily.
 
The Yag laser posterior capsulotomy is considered very safe and highly effective. As with any procedure, there are risks, but complications are very rare. Details of the advantages and risks of the procedure are thoroughly reviewed with you, in advance.
 
Secondary membranes do not grow back. After a successful Yag laser posterior capsulotomy, the procedure should not ever need to be repeated. The Yag laser has other applications in ophthalmology.

For example, it is sometimes used to create a bypass channel in the colored part of the eye, or iris, in people who have a risk of aspecialtype of glaucoma called “narrow angle glaucoma.”

But the most common use of the Yag laser, by far, is for the treatment of secondary membranes after cataract surgery.