New alternative offered for cataract surgery

FORT COLLINS – Berthoud resident Muriel Rogge is a pioneer in a new kind of cataract surgery.
Rogge is among the first in Colorado to have a cataract removed from her eye with the Alcon LenSx femtosecond laser.
The surgery was performed in late August by Gary Foster, M.D., surgeon at the Eye Center of Northern Colorado, 1725 E. Prospect Road. Rogge had previously had a cataract removed from her other eye with traditional surgery.
“When Dr. Foster explained it and I had the opportunity I said, ‘Let’s go for it as long as I get the same results,'” Rogge said.
While she acknowledged some discomfort for several days after her first blade-assisted surgery, Rogge said the laser surgery was a completely different story.
“This one was overall much better,” she said. “The experience was great, like I didn’t have anything done.”
Rogge said she now has 20-20 vision again and is “very pleased” with the results.
“I would definitely recommend it to anyone,” she said.
Cataracts are naturally occurring deposits of proteins that slowly build up on the lens of the eye over time, resulting in increasingly cloudy vision. Most cataract surgeries are performed on those 60 and older.
Foster said the new LenSx laser system uses a special imaging device to get “an exact 3-D model of the exact location and shape of important eye structures.”
“Prior to this, cataract surgery was done with the surgeon judging where to place incisions – how deep and how long – while looking under a microscope,” he said.
With the LenSx, “the surgeon can now decide exactly on that (3-D) model where he wants to deliver those incisions,” he added.