Most cataract and lens replacement patients expect clear vision within days. When CMO develops, that story changes.
Instead of rapid rehabilitation, patients may experience several weeks of blur, fluctuating vision and extended drop regimens.
The timing is psychologically unhelpful: oedema often appears after an initial period of good vision, so patients feel as if they have “gone backwards”.¹
Even when final acuity is good, the prolonged recovery shapes their memory of the operation far more than the underlying retinal mechanism.
Retrospective clinical series show that some cases persist or recur and require prolonged treatment and monitoring, reinforcing the value of prevention rather than rescue.²
For a private patient who has arranged time off work and invested financially in surgery, two to three months of extra visits, OCT scans and anxiety can turn a technically successful procedure into a perceived complication.
References
- Lobo C. Pseudophakic cystoid macular edema. Ophthalmologica. 2012;227(2):61-67.
- Zur D, Loewenstein A. Postsurgical cystoid macular edema. Dev Ophthalmol. 2017;58:178-190.
Related Topics
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- The PREMED Study: What It Means for Your Eye Drops
- Why We Use Both Steroid and NSAID Drops After Surgery
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- Our Macular Oedema Prevention Protocol at Blue Fin Vision®
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- Why Our CMO Data Matters for Transparency in Cataract and Lens Surgery
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- How CMO Changes the Cataract Recovery Story for Patients
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- The Cost of CMO to a Private Clinic
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- Fellow-Eye Risk and Strategic Planning in Bilateral Surgery
