Read in 30+ languages
हिंदी

Cataract surgery

India's commonest operation — half an hour, but the rules afterwards are strict

First things firstYour discharge sheet and your surgeon's instructions come before this page. What follows is food, rest, what the medicines do, and the warning signs. Wound dressing, lifting limits and when to go back to work differ by operation and by surgeon — ask them, not a web page.

1Before the operation

The preparation that changes the outcome.

Specific to this operation
Sugar and blood pressure need to be under control — uncontrolled sugar can get the operation postponed.
Some prostate medicines, such as tamsulosin, make eye surgery harder. Mention them even if you took them years ago.
Arrange someone to bring you home — you cannot drive that day.
Applies after any operation
What your doctor must be told
Your surgeon and the anaesthetist need to know everything you are taking — medicines, Ayurvedic powders, vitamins, home decoctions, all of it.
What to do: People often do not count Ayurvedic and home preparations as medicines and leave them out. That is the commonest and most important omission. Carry the packets, or photograph them on your phone — better than trying to remember names.
Practical preparation
Small things that make the hospital day easier and are hard to remember at the last minute.
What to do: Follow the hospital's fasting instructions, not the internet's. Cut your nails and take off nail polish — the oxygen probe clips onto a finger. Leave all jewellery at home. Loose clothes. Carry your medicine list and old reports. Arrange for someone to be with you for the first week back. Clear the path to the toilet, and put water and essentials within reach of the bed.

2After the operation

What to expect in the first days and weeks.

Do not rub the eye at all. Wear the shield at night so you do not touch it in your sleep.
For the first week or two, no bending down to pick things up, no heavy lifting and no straining at stool — all three raise pressure in the eye.
Keep water out of the eye. Have your hair washed by someone else, leaning back. Avoid dust, smoke and cooking fumes.
Put the drops in exactly the order and at the times written, leaving five minutes between two different drops.

3What to eat

The raw material for repair — and what is different after this operation.

Specific to this operation
Constipation is the hidden risk here, because straining is forbidden. Fibre, water and a stool softener from day one.
For the other eye: green leafy vegetables, carrot, amla, and protection from the sun.
Applies after any operation
Protein, for the repair
Healing a wound means building new tissue, and the raw material for that is protein. The body needs more than usual after surgery — at exactly the time appetite is lowest.
What to do: Something at every meal: dal, rajma, chana, curd, paneer, egg, fish, chicken soup, moong, sattu, milk. If you are vegetarian, eat dal with rice — together they make a complete protein. If you have kidney disease, ask your doctor before increasing protein.
Low Weight / WeaknessGeneral DebilityProtein & muscle
Fibre and water
Painkillers, moving less and a changed diet all push towards constipation. After abdominal surgery, straining does the most harm.
What to do: Water through the day, a little at a time rather than all at once. Soaked figs, raisins, munakka at night. Papaya, guava, apple with the skin. Isabgol with a full glass — with too little water it does the opposite. Build fibre up slowly or it brings gas.
ConstipationGas & Bloating
Little and often
A full plate in front of you kills what appetite there is. Six small plates get far more into you over a day.
What to do: Something every two or three hours. A share of protein each time. Liquids count — dal water, soup, buttermilk, milk, sattu. When eating is hard, drinks are the easiest way in.
Poor AppetiteWeak Digestion

4What the medicines do

What follows the anaesthetic, the painkillers and the antibiotics.

Loose motions from antibiotics
Antibiotics clear the gut's useful bacteria along with the harmful ones, so loose stools during the course are common.
What to do: Curd or buttermilk with meals — but keep two hours between it and the antibiotic dose. Rice water, banana, khichdi. Keep your fluids up, ORS if needed. Do not stop the course on your own. Watery motions with fever or blood are not a home matter — see a doctor.
DiarrheaRecurring DiarrheaGut health drinks
No appetite after the medicines
Anaesthesia, painkillers and antibiotics together flatten the appetite for a week or two — at exactly the time the body needs the most food to repair itself.
What to do: Less at a time, six times a day. Something with protein each time — dal, curd, paneer, egg, sattu. Jeera or ajwain water before eating. A sour taste opens the appetite — lemon, amla, pomegranate. Six small plates beat one forced large one.
Poor AppetiteLoss of AppetiteWeak Digestion

5Changes in the body

Skin, hair, and the changes nobody warns you about.

Dry skin
Hospital air, repeated antiseptic washes and drinking less water together leave the skin dry.
What to do: Plain oil straight after a bath, onto damp skin. Drink more. Avoid very hot water. Oil goes on the wound or stitches only when your doctor says so.
Skin Health & Glow
Not a home remedy — see a doctor

›Related pages

Weak EyesightEyesight & GlaucomaConstipationBlood Sugar Balance