Occular Albinism & cataract surgery

I am a 41 year old legally blind female.  I have had occular albinism with astigmatism & Nystagmas since birth.  My best corrected vision is 20/100 L & 20/200 R; uncorrected is 20/200 L & 20/400+ R.  My eyes are elongated to almost 28.  I have been cleared by a retina specialist with the understanding that my risk is higher than normal for retinal detatchment (apx. 2% as opposed to the 0.7% for a normal person).  My vision has begun to decrease lately & I have been offered cataract surgery as an option.  As I understand it; there is a 95% chance I will have slightly better vision than my best corrected now & that it is POTENTIALY possible to then add correction on top of that.  My question:  Is this information correct?  Have your heard of cataract surgery being used in this way?  How does the occular albinism fit into the equation?

Thanks in advance for any information you may be able to provide.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

Cataract surgery should help.  However, I do not understand "POTENTIALY possible to then add correction on top of that."  Do they mean glasses?

Dr. O.

[Tigger615]

Yes, or contacts.  To be clear & fair though, this was the response to a question my husband & I asked.  When told my vision would be slightly better than it is now with contacts we asked "Since the lenses only go down to a 6, can you then add contacts or glasses to get it even better?"

I'm told that the toric lensees only go down to a 6 & I need a 3.  The Dr. offering the surgery said he could "tweak" my vision with lasik afterward & that the lasik is included in the price if I wanted to do it.

Does the ocular albinism factor in at all either positively or negatively with regards to the benefit of the cataract lense / surgery?

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

No.  If he needs to tweak with LASIK why pay for a Toric.  Just do an aspheric IOL followed by LASIK to correct the power and astigmatism.

Dr. O.

[Tigger615]

I will ask about this option.

I understand that cataract surgery is a relatively common procedure, but this is a very scary situation for me so I am trying to verify information & weigh my options very carefully.  I greatly appreciate your input.

[klaas]

what is the best eye surgery for people with albinism.
klaas

[Tigger615]

I did have the cataract surgery on one eye & it did eliminate the need for corrective lenses on that side.  I cannot read from that eye, but that was my distance eye anyway, so no harm no foul.  I am holding off on the other eye until I absolutely have to do it as that is my reading eye & I don't want any slip-ups.  I am extremely happy with the results.