Choose between cataract surgery + possible covid exposure at hospital

Post date: 2020-06-30 12:58:24

Family member who is 70+ and considered high-risk for Covid because of diabetes and recent history of cardiac disease, now needs cataract surgery. The doctor didn't say now-now. Help me weigh the risk involved in a possible exposure at the hospital/follow up appointments and via any complications that might occur.

Related medical background of family member: Age 70+ and these issues: diabetes, blood pressure and high cholesterol. Medications are being taken regularly and under control. They had/have cardiovascular disease that needed two angioplasties a year ago. Because we consider them high risk, we lead a very restricted life at home to minimize any covid-exposure. All essentials are bought via deliveries or store-side pickups. We do not socialize with any other family/friends or neighbors in their homes or ours. Only social interaction is with 1 other family at our or their front yard/driveway. We only leave home for joy rides in the car for 1 to 1.5 hours at the maximum.

Our first exposure to another person indoors (since stay-at-home guidelines begain in mid-March in our US city) was at the eye clinic today to get a blurry eyesight issue seen by a doctor. And we have learnt that they have cataract developing in eyes. One needs surgery but the other eye is quite mild. My family member is able to do almost all daily activities with some inconvenience - reading, laptop, gardening and many other home chores. They are not able to articulate how much inconvenience. But when they try to see with one eye at a time, the difference is significant. (So my guess is that 1 eye is compensating for the other quite a bit which is why they have gotten by for quite a while). They did say they started becoming aware of the blurriness - about 2 weeks ago. To note is that this family member has a high tolerance-level so they may have been putting up with this for much longer.

I wanted a quantitative explanation of how bad the cataract is from the doctor and they said: 20/200 vision in the eye that needs to operated first. How bad or difficult does this make day-to-day life? (I don't know). They also wear prescription glasses for short sight and long sight but of course that's not fixing the blurry vision problem in one eye.

What questions should I be asking to figure out how bad the cataract is (from doctor and from family member)? Should I have been given a written report at the end of such an appointment? The doctor specializes in cataract surgery among other eye ailments.

In my mind: A trip to the hospital for surgery means contact with at least a dozen people all of whose health situations we are not aware of. Even if they are all in good-faith asymptomatic and wearing masks, we *do* know that masks and whatever possible social distancing (that is possible in a hospital) - does increase covid exposure risk to a much higher level than what we are currently allowing for.

What does it mean for a cataract surgery to be delayed by 3 months (I don't see things going to be in much better state), 6 months (hopeful) or 1 year (hopeful of a vaccine for at least high-risk folks)?

Is the loss in quality of life due to possibly inconvenient vision for the next 1 year going to be worth the risk of covid-exposure to a high-risk individual? Can a cataract considerably accelerate in 3 months/6 months/1 year that the procedure after this period will affect the effectiveness of surgery?

Thanks a lot for any answers you might have to above questions. Or any links to great resources on understanding everything behind cataract surgery.

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