Q: My 66 years old father has been operated for cataract using laser surgery. Two days after the surgery the surgeon did a check-up of the operated eye and said that there is a minor iris displacement and again made some minor manipulations. He later applied an ointment to the eye, closed it with cotton and advised to observe it after two days. I suppose that the intraocular lens (IOL) was imbedded into the eye after the surgery. Is it usual after surgery for the iris to get displaced? Can it be corrected?

A:Your father may have developed an iris prolapse following cataract surgery. This can happen (causes are multiple), though the commonest cause is inadvertent pressure on the eyeball. As there are no stitches, the inner contents can extrude.

If the prolapse is a few hours old, it is treated as this patient was (the contents are pushed back into the eye). Routine follow up with the operative surgeon is the only requirement.