Cataract Surgery in Spanish

What it means

Cataract removal, for which MedlinePlus lists cataract surgery among the alternative names, is surgery to remove a clouded lens (cataract) from the eye. During the surgery, the National Eye Institute says, the eye doctor removes the cloudy lens from the eye and replaces it with an artificial lens, called an intraocular lens or IOL. A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye, and the National Eye Institute says surgery is the only way to get rid of cataracts. The person is usually awake during cataract surgery, and numbing drops keep the eye from feeling anything. It is an outpatient procedure performed by an ophthalmologist. People with cataracts in both eyes have surgery on each eye at a separate time, usually about a month apart, and most people are completely healed 8 weeks after their surgery.

Spanish term: Cirugía de cataratas
Gender and article: feminine: la cirugía de cataratas
Pronunciation: see-roo-HEE-ah deh kah-tah-RAH-tahs

Other Spanish terms	Where it is used	Note
extracción de cataratas	General	Title of the MedlinePlus en español article, which lists cirugía de cataratas among its alternative names.

Cirugía de cataratas is the title of the National Eye Institute's Spanish page. MedlinePlus en español titles its article Extracción de cataratas and lists Cirugía de cataratas among the alternative names; the article's own text also says la cirugía de cataratas, with the feminine article. The Real Academia Española dictionary records catarata as a feminine noun whose first sense is a waterfall; the eye sense, a clouding of the lens that makes vision difficult, is its second.

The lens of the eye is el cristalino. For the artificial lens, both sources say lente intraocular: the NEI page keeps the English abbreviation IOL, while MedlinePlus en español writes LIO. The NEI page calls the eye doctor oculista, and MedlinePlus en español says the surgery is performed by an oftalmólogo. Other words on these pages are gotas para los ojos (eye drops), anestesia local (local anesthesia) and procedimiento ambulatorio (outpatient procedure).

Phrases for an appointment

What a patient or a clinician might say, in English and Spanish:

Who	English	Spanish
Patient	My vision is cloudy, and I have trouble reading and driving.	Tengo la visión nublada y me cuesta leer y conducir.
Clinician	You have a cataract in each eye. We can talk about cataract surgery.	Tiene una catarata en cada ojo. Podemos hablar de la cirugía de cataratas.
Patient	Will you operate on both eyes on the same day?	¿Me van a operar los dos ojos el mismo día?
Clinician	No, each eye is done at a separate time, usually about a month apart.	No, cada ojo se opera por separado, por lo general con un mes de diferencia.
Patient	Will I feel pain during the surgery?	¿Voy a sentir dolor durante la cirugía?
Clinician	We will put numbing drops in your eye so that you do not feel anything.	Le pondremos gotas anestésicas en el ojo para que no sienta nada.
Clinician	Please bring a friend or family member with you, because you will not be able to drive afterward.	Por favor, venga con un amigo o un familiar, porque no podrá conducir después.
Clinician	Call us right away if you lose vision, have bad pain that does not go away, or your eye is very red.	Llámenos de inmediato si pierde visión, tiene un dolor intenso que no desaparece o el ojo está muy rojo.

In 9 languages

Language	Term
English	Cataract Surgery
Spanish (Español)	Cirugía de cataratas
Chinese (中文)	白內障手術
Korean (한국어)	백내장 수술
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)	Phẫu thuật đục thủy tinh thể
Filipino (Tagalog)	Operasyon sa katarata
Portuguese (Português)	Cirurgia de catarata
Thai (ภาษาไทย)	การผ่าตัดต้อกระจก
Japanese (日本語)	白内障手術

Where you'll see it

operative reportsurgical consent formEOBbilldischarge summary

Related terms

Your right to an interpreter in the United States

If English is not your primary language and you have difficulty communicating in English, you may need an interpreter or a translated document when you visit a doctor or dentist, go to the emergency room or pick up a prescription. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights states that two federal laws, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, require programs that receive its funding to provide language access services free of charge.

You can ask when you make the appointment or at the front desk: "I need an interpreter, please." «Necesito un intérprete, por favor.»

More terms: Eyes and ears

All terms in this area: Eyes and ears — Ojos y oídos

Sources

This page is a language reference. It is not medical advice.