Is it dangerous for an Alzheimer's patient to have cataracts removed?

Mom did the cataract surgery, with only mild dementia, and it was a total failure because she did not follow instructions and the surgery aggravated her glaucoma. The result was she got a hole in the retina. She insisted on a retinal repair, again a total failure due to non-compliance and lost vision in that eye completely.

My mother had cataracts so last spring I took her to a specialist to have them evaluated and to consider surgery. Mom also had moderate dementia. The specialist said she would not be a surgery candidate due to her dementia likely making her unable to follow all pre and post surgery care and instructions - even with the assistance of the NH where she lived. This included a specific eye drop regime and not touching or rubbing her eyes. He did say that moms vision was good enough that she shouldn't have too much issue reading - he compared it to looking through a dirty windshield. Next I took mom to her regular eye doctor to see if a better glasses prescription would help - he said no, that she would just have a better view of her dirty windshield with stronger glasses. The problem started when my mother quit reading - which had been her life long passion. Turns out it was the dementia that stopped the reading - either she just lost intrest all together or the dementia made it too difficult to follow a plot-line, again - causing her to loose intrest in reading.

I did a little research on this a while ago. If you use terms like dementia and eye surgery, you will likely get some articles. (I can't post links here.) One thing is the anesthesia. Locals may be used, but for people who are anxious or who cannot follow instructions, this could be a problem and they may need more. I'd explore that.

Also, after the procedure the patient may not be compliant with instructions, because they forget or are confused. If the patient can't resist rubbing their eye, it could cause more harm. And the dementia patient is likely to forget why it's harmful or be confused about what's wrong with the eye after surgery. So, would restraints be necessary? It's almost like surgery on an infant, since, the patient with dementia may forget what's wrong with the eye and use no caution with it.

I don't think most doctor understand the degree of picking that some dementia patients have. My cousin would unravel the brace on her fractured arm over and over. She wouldn't leave it alone. Eventually, they had to put a hard cast on it.

I would definitely look at the aftercare to see if the person can handle it. If someone could be with them, 24/7, I suppose that might work.

It is only a good thing if the eye surgeon will agree to keep them sedated. My father thought,"stay still, lay down for a couple of days" as personal challenge to act like a wild man.....blowing out the new lense and essentially damaging one eye beyond much repair.

the only reason I didnt do this for my mom is because she would Not have laid still, and the after care of eyedrops which she would not have allowed me to do. So, it really depends on her stage of the disease - also upon the meds she is on and their effect on infections etc.