Cataract Surgery · Newport Beach, CA · Dr. Todd Driver
Cataract Surgery in Newport Beach
Surgery day at Newport Bay Surgery Center, 3333 West Coast Highway.
Consultations at OC Eye Associates · 9 Corporate Park, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92606
Quick answer
Dr. Todd Driver performs all of his cataract surgeries at Newport Bay Surgery Center, 3333 West Coast Highway in Newport Beach, an eye-only surgery center where he has operated for over seven years. Consultations, lens measurements and follow-up visits happen at his Irvine office, about 20 minutes away. Patients arrive about two hours before surgery, the surgery itself takes about ten minutes, and most are on their way home within 30 minutes of finishing.
Once we pick a surgery date, one of the first things my patients ask is where the surgery actually happens, and the answer is not my Irvine office. Every cataract surgery I do is at Newport Bay Surgery Center in Newport Beach. I’ve operated there for over seven years, usually 10 to 12 cases a week. Your consultation and your lens measurements are in Irvine. Surgery day is the one morning you spend in Newport Beach.
Why I operate at Newport Bay
So the thing I love about Newport Bay is that it’s an eye-only surgery center. A lot of surgery centers do several specialties under one roof. At Newport Bay the staff do eyes all day, every day, and in my experience that makes them very good at taking care of patients and supporting the surgeon when a case is complex. It’s also right on the water, so you get a view of the marina before and after your surgery.
I’m on the medical staff at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach as well. Cataract surgery is an outpatient procedure, so it’s done at the surgery center rather than in the hospital.
What surgery day looks like
This is what we tell our patients, so it’s a good general guide, but if your instruction sheet from the surgery center says something different, follow the sheet.
You arrive about two hours before your surgery time. What I tell my patients is that most of that two hours is prep, and I’d rather you know that going in than wonder why a ten minute surgery takes a whole morning. You check in, and the nurses bring you back to the pre-op area, where they get you prepped, get your eye dilated, and place an IV for the sedation. This is twilight sedation, similar to what you get for a colonoscopy, so you’re still breathing on your own without a machine, and most of my patients are very relaxed and comfortable during the procedure.
Once the nurse and I have both gone through the safety checks, we bring you back to the surgery area. If you’ve chosen the femtosecond laser, we do the laser portion first and then the cataract surgery. If not, we go straight to the cataract surgery. The surgery itself takes about ten minutes. Afterward you go to the recovery area, and most patients are heading home within about 30 minutes.
You need a responsible adult to drive you home because of the sedation, and the surgery center will cancel the surgery if you don’t have one, so line that up before the date is set. The night-before rules, like nothing to eat or drink after midnight, are on their own page, What Should I Do the Night Before Cataract Surgery?
After you get home
Before you head home, we put a safety shield over your eye so you don’t rub it if you take a nap, and you start your drops once you get home, on the schedule on your instruction sheet. If you have the Light Adjustable Lens, we put the special UV protective glasses from RxSight on you before you leave, so the sun on the way home doesn’t affect the lens, and you keep wearing them during waking hours until 24 hours after the second lock-in, which is covered on the Light Adjustable Lens page. When you sleep, put the eye shield back on, just so you don’t rub your eye by accident. Your first visit after surgery is usually the next day, in the clinic in Irvine at 9 Corporate Park.
The laser at Newport Bay
Both of the femtosecond lasers I use are at Newport Bay. The Catalys is in a separate room, so for those patients we do the laser there and then move you into the operating room. The LENSAR ALLY is in the operating room itself, so everything happens in one room. The laser portion takes about two minutes. The laser docks onto your eye, which feels like a little pressure rather than pain, and you see an interesting light pattern while it works. Whether the laser makes sense for your eye is on the laser cataract surgery page.
Getting there from my Irvine office
All of my patients are seen in my Irvine office at 9 Corporate Park, Suite 150. Your consultation, your lens measurements on a second visit, and your visits after surgery are all there. What happens at your first visit is on its own page. Surgery day is the only visit you make to Newport Beach.
Newport Bay Surgery Center is at 3333 West Coast Highway, Suite 100, Newport Beach, CA 92663, about a 20 minute drive from the office in normal traffic.
Newport Bay Surgery Center
3333 West Coast Highway, Suite 100
Newport Beach, CA 92663
newportbaysurgerycenter.com
Before the date is set
Before the surgery is even scheduled, line up a responsible adult to drive you home, because the center won’t operate without one.
Newport Beach FAQs
Where does Dr. Driver do cataract surgery?
All of my cataract surgeries are at Newport Bay Surgery Center, 3333 West Coast Highway, Suite 100, in Newport Beach. I’ve operated there for over seven years.
Where is Dr. Driver’s office?
My office is at 9 Corporate Park, Suite 150, in Irvine, about a 20 minute drive from the surgery center. Consultations, lens measurements and follow-up care all happen there. The operation itself is the only part that happens in Newport Beach.
How long will I be at the surgery center?
Plan on about two and a half to three hours. You arrive about two hours before your surgery time for check-in, dilation and the IV, and most patients leave the recovery area within about 30 minutes of finishing.
Will I be awake during cataract surgery?
Sort of. You’re not put to sleep with a breathing tube. It’s the same kind of sedation people get for a colonoscopy, so you’re breathing on your own and very relaxed, and the eye itself is numbed with drops so you don’t feel the surgery.
Do I need someone to drive me home?
Yes. Because of the sedation, a responsible adult has to drive you home, and the center won’t operate without one.
Is the laser done at the surgery center?
Yes. The Catalys and the LENSAR ALLY are both at Newport Bay. The Catalys is in its own room and the ALLY is in the operating room, and the laser portion takes about two minutes either way.
Are you affiliated with Hoag Hospital?
I’m a member of the medical staff at Hoag in Newport Beach. Cataract surgery is an outpatient procedure, so mine are done at Newport Bay Surgery Center rather than in the hospital.
Ready to talk about cataract surgery?
Start with a consultation with me at OC Eye Associates in Irvine. If surgery is the right step for you, it happens at Newport Bay Surgery Center, and you’ll know what the morning looks like before you get there.
Call (949) 653-9500 Prefer we call you? Request a callback OC Eye Associates · 9 Corporate Park, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92606If you're thinking about cataract surgery, there's the 60-second lens quiz and the vision simulator, which shows how each lens sees by day and at night.
Read next
This page is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for a medical examination or personalized medical advice. It describes a typical surgery day at one surgery center; the instruction sheet you receive before surgery is the one to follow.