September 26, 2025 • 6 mins
Dr. Jim Applegate joins us to discuss a surgery that many of us will have in our lifetimes - cataract surgery.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I tell you my cataract surgery went so well Wednesday.
The only inconvenience today is slight. My brain doesn't quite
know what to believe all of a sudden because my
right eye can see again. Did you see that this
is news? It must be Friday, doctor Jacim Applegate. Thanks
for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So, first of all, what is a cataract and why
does so many of us seem to have to have
this surgery?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, a cataract is the cloudiness of the lens of
the eye. And the lens is if you look through
the whole, and if you want to look at the whole,
in the center of the colored part of your eye
is where the lens sits. And it's supposed to be clear.
And it's an amazing organ because it's clear, but it's
(00:52):
very flexible. It actually changes shape up and down to
allow your eye to focus on things that close or
things that are far away. The lens actually changes shape.
But what happens over time maybe due to an eye injury.
Diabetes can cause it, medications such as steroid can cause it,
(01:13):
but the most common cause is UV light ultra violet
light that will take the lens from its clear to
produce cloudiness and affect your vision. And that's what happens.
So if you think about it, when I was growing up,
only the cool kids that sunglasses. Nobody I knew, No
(01:34):
common person wore sunglasses when they went to the beach
or anything. And that's why there's a huge number of
people our age that get cataracts because of that UV
damage to the lens, the clear lens of the eye
that cause it to be cloudy.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So talk to us about the procedure then, which shockingly
replaces that damage lens.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I know, it's really amazing. First of all, most people
don't realize, but one of the most successful surgeries in
ancient Rome was cataract surgery. Now, what they did back
in ancient Rome is they took this little probe, put
it into the eye and just took that lens and
pushed it away, so then you can see. You just
can't focus, but at least you can see. So that
(02:23):
was a big improvement. But what they do now is
they make a little slit on the side. They use
a machine that sort of fractures the lens and they
pull it all out and then they put the new
lens in there and sew it back up. Back in
the eighties, this was a very very delicate surgery. Now
(02:44):
they have it down, they know exactly what they're doing.
The lenses are absolutely amazing that my eye specialists put
into people's eyes, and the technology just has improved so
much and it's really very very simple surgery. And I
think you can see that and the pun that just
in a couple of days you're basically back to normal.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Weird.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Let's talk about the timeline of this as well, and
I think it goes along with that change in technology.
I think at the infancy of these kinds of procedures,
they were like, well, we might have to do this
again maybe at some point, but now you're just good
to go, right.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, Well I was. I happened to be an intern
when the first cataract surgery was done in Kalamazoo, which
is where I interned at, and it was really delicate.
The person had to lay their flat with sat and
bags on the side of their head. And now it's
nothing at all. But people need to get their eyes checked,
especially if they have blurry vision, double vision, if they
(03:40):
have a sensitivity to light, especially headlights, if they have
trouble seeing at night, if their colors in their vision
seemed to be saving. Those are all symptoms that you're
starting to get the cloudiness of that lens. And the
decision of when to have the surgery done is something
that you decide between you and your eye doctor. Because
(04:02):
some people are more sensitive get it done sooner. Other
people wait until they're really really blind to get it done.
But I want to urge everyone to say, if you're
having symptoms, think about getting checked because it's such a
simple surgery today that you know, and Steve will tell
you you're you're up and running within just a couple
of days.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Crazy.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I was just going to say, Doc, real quick, you
kind of answered my question. But you know, in two
it gets bad enough. A lot of people think, well,
it's okay, it's just the way it is, or I'm
just getting older or whatever. And so is there a
recommendation now like we're seeing with other health conditions, where
you know, you get your eyes checked if you're over
fifty every year or every couple of years or not.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I normally say, well, first of all, if you're having
any visual changes, you should always get your eyes checked
because there's a lot of things that can go wrong.
You know, it can be a cataract, but most importantly,
we worry about the back part of your eye, the retina,
where you actually absorb the light and change it to
nerve impulses. So if you're having problems we do vision,
(05:01):
go get checked. There's no real recommendation, there's no real
screening age that they tell you to do. I think
it's basically a personal preference of when you get it done.
But definitely, if you're having any symptoms at all, you
need to get to your eye doctor. Let them look
and see how cloudy your lenses. I know that I've
(05:21):
got cataracts forming, but they're not bad enough for my perception,
and they're not bad enough for my eye doctor's perception.
That says, yeah, you should get those done now. As
she said, you'll tell me when when I can't really
focus to sew up a laceration, that's probably when I'll
get it done. But up till that time, it's very
(05:44):
much a personal preference. But if you're having any sort
of eye problems, if you see a major difference, especially
when driving, because that's the most complex thing we had
to do, you should go get your eyes checked. It's
nothing to be scared of. It's a very simple procedure
cataract is.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Doctor Jim Applegate always great stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Thank you, my pleasure.
I tell you my cataract surgery went so well Wednesday.
The only inconvenience today is slight. My brain doesn't quite
know what to believe all of a sudden because my
right eye can see again. Did you see that this
is news? It must be Friday, doctor Jacim Applegate. Thanks
for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So, first of all, what is a cataract and why
does so many of us seem to have to have
this surgery?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, a cataract is the cloudiness of the lens of
the eye. And the lens is if you look through
the whole, and if you want to look at the whole,
in the center of the colored part of your eye
is where the lens sits. And it's supposed to be clear.
And it's an amazing organ because it's clear, but it's
(00:52):
very flexible. It actually changes shape up and down to
allow your eye to focus on things that close or
things that are far away. The lens actually changes shape.
But what happens over time maybe due to an eye injury.
Diabetes can cause it, medications such as steroid can cause it,
(01:13):
but the most common cause is UV light ultra violet
light that will take the lens from its clear to
produce cloudiness and affect your vision. And that's what happens.
So if you think about it, when I was growing up,
only the cool kids that sunglasses. Nobody I knew, No
(01:34):
common person wore sunglasses when they went to the beach
or anything. And that's why there's a huge number of
people our age that get cataracts because of that UV
damage to the lens, the clear lens of the eye
that cause it to be cloudy.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So talk to us about the procedure then, which shockingly
replaces that damage lens.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I know, it's really amazing. First of all, most people
don't realize, but one of the most successful surgeries in
ancient Rome was cataract surgery. Now, what they did back
in ancient Rome is they took this little probe, put
it into the eye and just took that lens and
pushed it away, so then you can see. You just
can't focus, but at least you can see. So that
(02:23):
was a big improvement. But what they do now is
they make a little slit on the side. They use
a machine that sort of fractures the lens and they
pull it all out and then they put the new
lens in there and sew it back up. Back in
the eighties, this was a very very delicate surgery. Now
(02:44):
they have it down, they know exactly what they're doing.
The lenses are absolutely amazing that my eye specialists put
into people's eyes, and the technology just has improved so
much and it's really very very simple surgery. And I
think you can see that and the pun that just
in a couple of days you're basically back to normal.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Weird.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Let's talk about the timeline of this as well, and
I think it goes along with that change in technology.
I think at the infancy of these kinds of procedures,
they were like, well, we might have to do this
again maybe at some point, but now you're just good
to go, right.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, Well I was. I happened to be an intern
when the first cataract surgery was done in Kalamazoo, which
is where I interned at, and it was really delicate.
The person had to lay their flat with sat and
bags on the side of their head. And now it's
nothing at all. But people need to get their eyes checked,
especially if they have blurry vision, double vision, if they
(03:40):
have a sensitivity to light, especially headlights, if they have
trouble seeing at night, if their colors in their vision
seemed to be saving. Those are all symptoms that you're
starting to get the cloudiness of that lens. And the
decision of when to have the surgery done is something
that you decide between you and your eye doctor. Because
(04:02):
some people are more sensitive get it done sooner. Other
people wait until they're really really blind to get it done.
But I want to urge everyone to say, if you're
having symptoms, think about getting checked because it's such a
simple surgery today that you know, and Steve will tell
you you're you're up and running within just a couple
of days.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Crazy.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I was just going to say, Doc, real quick, you
kind of answered my question. But you know, in two
it gets bad enough. A lot of people think, well,
it's okay, it's just the way it is, or I'm
just getting older or whatever. And so is there a
recommendation now like we're seeing with other health conditions, where
you know, you get your eyes checked if you're over
fifty every year or every couple of years or not.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I normally say, well, first of all, if you're having
any visual changes, you should always get your eyes checked
because there's a lot of things that can go wrong.
You know, it can be a cataract, but most importantly,
we worry about the back part of your eye, the retina,
where you actually absorb the light and change it to
nerve impulses. So if you're having problems we do vision,
(05:01):
go get checked. There's no real recommendation, there's no real
screening age that they tell you to do. I think
it's basically a personal preference of when you get it done.
But definitely, if you're having any symptoms at all, you
need to get to your eye doctor. Let them look
and see how cloudy your lenses. I know that I've
(05:21):
got cataracts forming, but they're not bad enough for my perception,
and they're not bad enough for my eye doctor's perception.
That says, yeah, you should get those done now. As
she said, you'll tell me when when I can't really
focus to sew up a laceration, that's probably when I'll
get it done. But up till that time, it's very
(05:44):
much a personal preference. But if you're having any sort
of eye problems, if you see a major difference, especially
when driving, because that's the most complex thing we had
to do, you should go get your eyes checked. It's
nothing to be scared of. It's a very simple procedure
cataract is.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Doctor Jim Applegate always great stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Thank you, my pleasure.
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