{"id":31935,"date":"2020-05-20T11:28:39","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T17:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=31935"},"modified":"2023-06-23T10:37:21","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T16:37:21","slug":"dextenza-eye-insert-delivers-critical-steroids-after-cataract-surgery-reduces-need-for-eye-drops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/dextenza-eye-insert-delivers-critical-steroids-after-cataract-surgery-reduces-need-for-eye-drops\/","title":{"rendered":"After cataract surgery, tiny insert delivers steroids, eliminates need for eye drops"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Dextenza eye insert proved critical to Martha Eubanks after cataract surgery. Here, she poses at sunrise on a birding outing on Mount Evans. Photos courtesy of Martha Eubanks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Martha Eubanks noticed it first while driving at night. What should have been points of light blurred into a haloed mess. Eubanks, 74, of Denver, a retired State Farm insurance agent and an avid birder \u2013 she has 399 species on her list and counting \u2013 knew exactly what was happening.<\/p>\n

Her wife Lucia Guzman had had cataract surgery in early 2019. Dr. Leo Seibold<\/a>, a University of Colorado School of Medicine ophthalmologist at the UCHealth Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center \u2013 Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>, had performed that surgery, and it had gone well. By late 2019, Eubanks knew it was her turn.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody I know who\u2019s over 70 is having this surgery done,\u201d Eubanks said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have cataracts, it\u2019s because you didn\u2019t live long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, cataracts<\/a> affect about half<\/a> of those 75 and over in the United States, and cataract surgery is this country\u2019s most common surgery, with about 3 million<\/a> procedures performed a year. The surgery involves replacing the clouding lens of the eye with a clear replacement.<\/p>\n

Seibold performed cataract surgery on Eubanks\u2019s right eye on Jan. 7, and it went well. She kept the eye protected for the next 24 hours and slept with a patch for a week. The hardest part about the recovery was having to follow a regimen involving different eye drops she had to properly aim in the eye four times a day, then three times, then twice, and finally once a day over the following month.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about 150 drops over a month\u2019s time. You have to be cognizant and you have to pay attention,\u201d Eubanks said. \u201cThey give you a nice little chart, because when you\u2019re 74, you can\u2019t remember what you took and what you didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Martha
Eubanks at a woods that may or may not be named after her. Photo courtesy of Martha Eubanks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two weeks later, Seibold replaced the lens in Eubanks\u2019s left eye. As her second eye recovered, she would need neither the chart nor the eye drops. Seibold inserted what looked like a tiny plug into one of her left eyelid\u2019s tear ducts. It wasn\u2019t a plug, but a small, dissolving implant that would release a continuous dose of a corticosteroid of the sort she was still putting into her right eye, drop by drop.<\/p>\n

Instead of eye drops, the ‘Dextenza’ eye insert made all the difference after surgery<\/h3>\n

The plug was a drug called Dextenza<\/a>. Seibold had been introducing it to patients as an alternative to the many eye drops otherwise needed to reduce inflammation and ensure the eye\u2019s proper healing after cataract surgery. Eubanks happened to have come along amid that transition and had the rare distinction of having done eye drops in one eye and the Dextenza insert in the other. Her preference was clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to Dr. Seibold, \u2018Was this not available before Jan. 7?\u2019 It was pretty amazing,\u201d Eubanks said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved Dextenza in November 2018, so it was quite new (Dextenza\u2019s active ingredient, dexamethasone, was initially approved in 1958). The drug didn\u2019t so much fill a new medical niche as provide a new way to deliver an old medication.<\/p>\n

\"The
Eubanks and Lucia Guzman at Denali National Park in Alaska. Photo courtesy of Martha Eubanks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seibold had long recognized that eye drops were, for most patients, the hardest part of cataract surgery. All but the most skilled and experienced handlers of eyedroppers well know the feeling of blinking at the wrong time, or dribbling medicine down one\u2019s cheek after an egregious misfire. Add arthritis and age- or disability-related dexterity issues and the challenge is multiplied. In addition, chart or otherwise, adding a four-times-a-day medication regimen to one\u2019s daily routine is anything but routine. People forget. The occasional patient disliked eye drops so much they avoided the cataract surgery they really did need, Seibold said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Dextenza, I don\u2019t have to worry about any of those issues,\u201d he said. \u201cBut what really sold me on it were the outcomes were good and patients loved it. Patients like Martha came back in and said, \u2018This is amazing. I can\u2019t tell you what a great thing it is not to have to put eye drops in my eye after surgery.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Assuming one\u2019s health insurance covers it (most Medicare plans do, as do many private insurers), Dextenza also saves patients the out-of-pocket costs of eye drops, Seibold said. For a small minority of patients, there can be some initial irritation and tearing, but most patients never know the insert is there, he said, and it dissolves away after the medicine is gone.<\/p>\n

Eubanks much preferred Dextenza to eye drops, but she was able to manage the eye drops too. The big deal was the cataract surgery itself, which got rid of the nighttime halos and has given her a better bead on those birds.<\/p>\n

Her improved vision, she said, \u201cgives me more control over my life and more independence,\u201d she said. \u201cMy distance vision is just excellent. It has freed me in a way \u2013 it\u2019s like I got younger, almost.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Martha Eubanks noticed it first while driving at night. What should have been points of light blurred into a haloed mess. Eubanks, 74, of Denver, a retired State Farm insurance agent and an avid birder \u2013 she has 399 species on her list and counting \u2013 knew exactly what was happening. Her wife Lucia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":31938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4221,848,427,9187,9167],"class_list":["post-31935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-living","tag-cataracts","tag-eye-care-ophthalmology","tag-opthalmology","tag-readysetco","tag-specialized-services"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDextenza eye insert eliminates need for drops after cataract surgery - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After cataract surgery, a small disolving implant, the Dextenza eye insert, eliminates the need for eye drops, which are sometimes the hardest part.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/dextenza-eye-insert-delivers-critical-steroids-after-cataract-surgery-reduces-need-for-eye-drops\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After cataract surgery, tiny insert delivers steroids, eliminates need for eye drops\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After cataract surgery, a small disolving implant, the Dextenza eye insert, eliminates the need for eye drops, which are sometimes the hardest part.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/dextenza-eye-insert-delivers-critical-steroids-after-cataract-surgery-reduces-need-for-eye-drops\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCHealth Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-20T17:28:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-23T16:37:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/20111030\/cataracts-dextenza-Martha-Mt-Evans.jpgtiny.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/dextenza-eye-insert-delivers-critical-steroids-after-cataract-surgery-reduces-need-for-eye-drops\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/dextenza-eye-insert-delivers-critical-steroids-after-cataract-surgery-reduces-need-for-eye-drops\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Todd Neff, for UCHealth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/da7733ff5562e48e55c027d111ee5911\"},\"headline\":\"After cataract surgery, tiny insert delivers steroids, eliminates need for eye drops\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-20T17:28:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-23T16:37:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/dextenza-eye-insert-delivers-critical-steroids-after-cataract-surgery-reduces-need-for-eye-drops\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":914,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/dextenza-eye-insert-delivers-critical-steroids-after-cataract-surgery-reduces-need-for-eye-drops\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/20111030\\\/cataracts-dextenza-Martha-Mt-Evans.jpgtiny.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Cataracts\",\"Eye care\",\"Opthalmology\",\"Ready. 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