Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsCataracts & DiabetesPreparing for Cataract SurgeryDuring Cataract SurgeryAfter Cataract SurgeryWhen to See Your Healthcare Provider
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Cataracts & Diabetes
Preparing for Cataract Surgery
During Cataract Surgery
After Cataract Surgery
When to See Your Healthcare Provider
Acataractis a clouding of the eye’s naturallens, making it harder to see. If you havediabetes, you may be more likely to develop cataracts. You also may have more steps to follow before, during, and after cataract surgery.
This article will cover why cataracts are more likely to develop when you have diabetes and how to prepare before, during, and aftercataract surgery.
Huntstock / Getty Images
Why Cataracts Are More Common in Diabetes
Cataract development is most commonly associated with aging. By age 80, more than 50% of adults in the United States have had a cataract or cataract surgery.During cataract surgery, the eye surgeon removes the eye’s natural lens with the cataract and replaces it with an artificial lens.
If you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, your risk of developing cataracts is higher compared to people who do not have diabetes. This is because, over time, high blood sugar levels can cause changes to the lens that will speed up cataract development.
Factors that may affect whether or not you develop cataracts when you have diabetes include:
In addition to aging, other factors that contribute to cataract development include:
Whether or not you have diabetes, it may not be possible to prevent cataracts entirely. Still, you can try to slow cataract development.
A 2018 study that included more than 56,000 people newly diagnosed with diabetes aged 40 and above in the United Kingdom compared with a group that did not have diabetes found that the risk for cataracts doubled among those with diabetes.Cataracts were more common at younger ages than in the non-diabetic group, but they also were more common among those with a longer duration of diabetes.
With any surgery, people with diabetes are at a higher risk for slower healing and infection at the surgery site.However, even with these risks, cataract surgery can be done and often helps improve vision.
If you have diabetes and have a cataract in one or both eyes, your optometrist or ophthalmologistmay want to initially monitor the cataract or prescribe new eyeglasses. When it affects your vision more profoundly, the ophthalmologist may recommend removing the cataract. When you have diabetes, your ophthalmologist may recommend surgery earlier on to ensure better results.
The ophthalmologist who will perform surgery, and the medical team, will provide instructions on how to prepare for surgery. These instructions will be similar to those shared with people who do not have diabetes.
However, your ophthalmologist may spend more time comparing your vision symptoms to your cataract severity. For instance, if you have visual effects that seem worse than the extent of your cataract, your ophthalmologist may further examine whether there is a problem in the retina contributing to visual symptoms.That is becausediabetic retinopathy, a problem that can affect the retina when you have diabetes, also may affect your eyes.
Your ophthalmologist will let you know if you need to avoid any medications before surgery. For example, if you wear contact lenses, you will be asked not to use them for a week or so leading up to surgery. However, you may be instructed to use certain types of eye medications in the few days before surgery. These can include drops that will help prevent infection and promote better healing in the eye. While these drops are common for any person before cataract surgery, they are especially important when you have diabetes to reduce the chance of complications.
Ask your ophthalmologistif you can take your diabetes medication on the day of your surgery. You may be asked to avoid diabetes medications, including insulin, on the morning of your surgery. The surgical team may schedule your surgery early and ask you to bring your diabetes medications.
For the cataract surgery, you will most likely not be asleep. You may receive a sedative to keep you calm along with local anesthesia.
While performing surgery, your ophthalmologistmay slightly change how surgery is done to help avoid complications more common in people with diabetes. These changes could include:
After cataract surgery, your ophthalmologist may prescribe a steroid, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory eye drops to help control inflammation.These also can help prevent and treat swelling of the macula, also called macular edema. The surgical team will give you a schedule to indicate how often to use these drops. Sometimes, you may not have to take these drops because the ophthalmologist will inject them into the eye at the conclusion of surgery.
If you have diabetes, you may be more prone to certain complications after cataract surgery. These include:
Your ophthalmologist will tell you know how long it will take to notice an improvement in your vision after cataract surgery. Many people will notice a difference in one to three days, but it may take several weeks for your vision to fully recover.
Your ophthalmologist also will schedule follow-up appointments to monitor how your eye is doing after surgery. In addition to these follow-ups, you should call the ophthalmologist after cataract surgery if you have the following:
Summary
Cataracts can develop more often and at a younger age when you have diabetes. Eye doctors use certain strategies to help monitor your eyes and improve the chances of successful cataract surgery when you have diabetes. This can include using special surgical techniques and prescribing eye drops that can lessen the chance of problems. Worsening diabetic retinopathy and posterior capsular opacification are some of the risks after cataract surgery when you have diabetes.
A Word From Verywell
8 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Cataracts.American Diabetes Association.Curious about cataracts?Bixler JE.Cataracts and their treatment in people with diabetes. In:Prevention and Management of Diabetes-Related Eye Disease. Arlington (VA): American Diabetes Association; 2019:6-10.Becker C, Schneider C, Aballea S, et al.Cataract in patients with diabetes mellitus–incidence rates in the UK and other factors.Eye.2018;32:1028-1035. doi:10.1038/s41433-017-0003-1U.S. National Library of Medicine.Preparing for surgery when you have diabetes.Devgan U.Cataract surgery in diabetic patients.Retina Today.2010.Tham Y-C, Liu L, Rim TH.Association of cataract surgery with risk of diabetic retinopathy among Asian participants in the Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases Study.JAMA Netw Open.2020;3(6):e208035. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.8035MyHealth.Alberta.Ca.Cataract surgery: what to expect at home.
8 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Cataracts.American Diabetes Association.Curious about cataracts?Bixler JE.Cataracts and their treatment in people with diabetes. In:Prevention and Management of Diabetes-Related Eye Disease. Arlington (VA): American Diabetes Association; 2019:6-10.Becker C, Schneider C, Aballea S, et al.Cataract in patients with diabetes mellitus–incidence rates in the UK and other factors.Eye.2018;32:1028-1035. doi:10.1038/s41433-017-0003-1U.S. National Library of Medicine.Preparing for surgery when you have diabetes.Devgan U.Cataract surgery in diabetic patients.Retina Today.2010.Tham Y-C, Liu L, Rim TH.Association of cataract surgery with risk of diabetic retinopathy among Asian participants in the Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases Study.JAMA Netw Open.2020;3(6):e208035. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.8035MyHealth.Alberta.Ca.Cataract surgery: what to expect at home.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Johns Hopkins Medicine.Cataracts.American Diabetes Association.Curious about cataracts?Bixler JE.Cataracts and their treatment in people with diabetes. In:Prevention and Management of Diabetes-Related Eye Disease. Arlington (VA): American Diabetes Association; 2019:6-10.Becker C, Schneider C, Aballea S, et al.Cataract in patients with diabetes mellitus–incidence rates in the UK and other factors.Eye.2018;32:1028-1035. doi:10.1038/s41433-017-0003-1U.S. National Library of Medicine.Preparing for surgery when you have diabetes.Devgan U.Cataract surgery in diabetic patients.Retina Today.2010.Tham Y-C, Liu L, Rim TH.Association of cataract surgery with risk of diabetic retinopathy among Asian participants in the Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases Study.JAMA Netw Open.2020;3(6):e208035. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.8035MyHealth.Alberta.Ca.Cataract surgery: what to expect at home.
Johns Hopkins Medicine.Cataracts.
American Diabetes Association.Curious about cataracts?
Bixler JE.Cataracts and their treatment in people with diabetes. In:Prevention and Management of Diabetes-Related Eye Disease. Arlington (VA): American Diabetes Association; 2019:6-10.
Becker C, Schneider C, Aballea S, et al.Cataract in patients with diabetes mellitus–incidence rates in the UK and other factors.Eye.2018;32:1028-1035. doi:10.1038/s41433-017-0003-1
U.S. National Library of Medicine.Preparing for surgery when you have diabetes.
Devgan U.Cataract surgery in diabetic patients.Retina Today.2010.
Tham Y-C, Liu L, Rim TH.Association of cataract surgery with risk of diabetic retinopathy among Asian participants in the Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases Study.JAMA Netw Open.2020;3(6):e208035. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.8035
MyHealth.Alberta.Ca.Cataract surgery: what to expect at home.
Meet Our Medical Expert Board
Share Feedback
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
What is your feedback?
