No sedation Cataract surgery?

CeeBeeSlim

Is this possible? I can’t understand why when I tell docs my elderly mom will not get sedation - she’s phobic - docs shrug off her concern. “It’s safe, quick, our anesthesiologists know what they are doing”. I’m just not sure why they either say it can’t be done, or they don’t want to do it. To shrug it off seems problematic or am I being overly concerned? She’ll do local but does not want ANY sedation.

cwolfman13

CeeBeeSlim wrote: »

Is this possible? I can’t understand why when I tell docs my elderly mom will not get sedation - she’s phobic - docs shrug off her concern. “It’s safe, quick, our anesthesiologists know what they are doing”. I’m just not sure why they either say it can’t be done, or they don’t want to do it. To shrug it off seems problematic or am I being overly concerned? She’ll do local but does not want ANY sedation.

Different doctors probably have different SOPs for the surgery. My understanding is that non-sedation cataract surgery is fairly new so maybe not that many Dr.s are doing it yet.

OHFlamingo

As I remeber from my cataract surgery abut 20 years ago, it was light sedation, and was given because of the potential danger that would be caused if I moved! Made a lot of sense to me! All those instruments coming at one's eyes certainly would make one anxious! (The eyeball itself received drops to numb it, and the eye was held open with a clamp to prevent blinking My head was covered with a surgical drape.) Plus the nurse talked to me while the surgery was going on, and explained what was going on. There was some noise from a vacuum that might have startled me had I not been both sedated and warned by her. Your Mom should not be "forced" to undergo a procedure she does not choose to, but neither should a doctor be "forced" to operate on someone that he feels is not properly prepared for surgery. Good luck to your Mom!

CeeBeeSlim

@cwolfman13. I think you’re right. It’s new so not as common as I had hoped. Thanks.

@OHFlamingo - this makes sense. If only the doctors could have been as informative, but I’ve learned that you have to be very specific and direct with your questions to the docs. My bad. Appreciate the insight and thanks for the well-wishes.