The Post-Op Hug

Who said hugs aren't nice. . .sometimes?

Cataract surgery has turned out to be a truly gratifying experience - and I think it's so for both the surgeon and the patient. In the academic and VA world, patients with cataracts have usually been walking around with them for quite some time. So by the time they present to us for the discussion about taking them out, they are usually fairly advanced. They have long lost their 20/20 vision, their sense of the color white is forgotten, and they can't remember the last time they were able to drive at night. It's different in the private world where patients have money and time and ability to keep regular eye appointments and cataracts are discovered and operated on early - though sometimes too early.

At any rate, for my patients, the difference between their preoperative vision and their postoperative vision is usually quite large. I've had some who couldn't even see the big "E" on the chart who now see 20/20 without any glasses. And even if we don't get to that perfect target, the vision is still far better, clearer, and brighter than before. Sometimes they are so thrilled, they can't help but hug me. I don't know that anyone ever hugs the surgeon who takes out an angry appendix; but cataract surgeons are frequent receivers of the post-op hug.

And that defines gratifying if nothing else does.