Cataracts occur when the lens of the eye becomes thick and inflexible, and they're extremely common in older people. Decreased night vision, sensitivity to light and blurriness in your field of vision are all common cataract symptoms. Cataracts are treated by replacing the natural lens with an artificial one, and cataract surgery is extremely common and very safe.

A recent development in cataract surgery has the potential to make post-surgical complications even more rare. Some ophthalmologists are replacing the steroid eye drops commonly prescribed after surgery with a sustained-release steroid injection given immediately after the procedure. To learn more about why steroids are necessary and how single-dose cataract surgery steroids are a safer and more convenient option than drops, read on.

Why Do People Need Steroids After Cataract Surgery?

Following surgery, steroids help reduce inflammation in your eye. This helps to speed your healing process. More importantly, however, steroids significantly reduce the risk that you will develop cystoid macular edema (CME). This is a rare complication of cataract surgery that causes cyst-like structures to form in the macula, which is the middle part of your retina.

CME leads to blurriness in the center of your field of vision. In most cases, it can be easily treated with a higher dose of steroids. Further reducing inflammation with steroids usually causes CME to clear on its own. However, there is a slight chance that CME can become chronic and lead to permanent eye damage.

In most cases, the steroids that are prescribed following cataract surgery come in the form of eye drops. They're used twice a day for four weeks following surgery. Single-dose cataract surgery steroids, on the other hand, come in the form of an injection that slowly releases steroids into your eye over the course of those four weeks.

What Are the Benefits of Single-Dose Cataract Surgery Steroids?

There's a major problem with using eye drops after cataract surgery — patients don't always use them correctly. In order to keep infection risk to a minimum, you need to wash your hands before each time you use steroid eye drops, avoid touching the tip of the dropper to your eye, and make sure the bottle is stored in a cool, dry place to limit bacterial growth. You also can't miss any doses you're supposed to take, and you also need to ensure that the drop lands squarely in the center of your eye.

Maintaining this routine for an entire month can be difficult. Skipping doses or missing your eye with the drop can lead to increased CME risk, and touching your eye with the tip of the dropper can potentially lead to an eye infection.

In addition, people who have arthritis often experience difficulty squeezing the dropper bottle hard enough to make the eye drops come out. This can make using them frustrating and painful.

Since single-dose cataract surgery steroids eliminate the need for the eye drops, you don't have to worry about accidentally causing an infection in your eye by spreading bacteria to it from the dropper. It's also much more convenient for you.

Are There Any Downsides to the Sustained-Release Steroid Injection?

Compared to using traditional eye drops, the only downside of single-dose cataract surgery steroids is that you may experience irritation and swelling at the injection site. However, this normally clears up within a few days.

The other side effects of the sustained-release steroid injection are shared with eye drops, as they're simply side effects of the steroids themselves. Steroids can lead to increased intraocular pressure, which carries a slight risk of causing glaucoma or causing existing glaucoma to worsen. If you have glaucoma, speak with your ophthalmologist — it's sometimes possible to perform both glaucoma surgery and cataract surgery at the same time.

Overall, single-dose cataract surgery steroids are a more convenient option than using eye drops and often a safer one. If you're interested in this route, contact an ophthalmologist in your area who offers the sustained-release steroid injection.