As people get older, their hair turns gray. The same is true for the eyes. As we age, cataracts can develop, which are medically known as senile cataracts. The main symptom of an age-related cataract is visual impairment. Geriatric cataracts are one of the most important eye diseases that cause blindness worldwide. Epidemiologists have found that cataracts are responsible for 5.04% to 12.5% of blindness in Beijing, and the number of cataracts in people over the age of 60 is rising steeply, with 100% of people over the age of 80 getting cataracts. As people live longer, the number of cataracts among the elderly in China will increase accordingly. Cataracts not only affect the vision and quality of life of elderly patients, but also lead to blindness, thus causing a great burden to society. Therefore, it is important for the whole society to pay attention to the health of the elderly, especially the development of senile cataracts. What is cataract? What does it feel like to have a cataract? Like the lens of a camera, the human eye has a lens-like structure called the lens. As we age, the lens gradually ages and becomes cloudy, and that is when we get a cataract. At first, the patient may not feel anything. Some patients are presbyopic and have cataracts, but become nearsighted. Some patients feel afraid of sunlight, have difficulty seeing against a bright background, and have difficulty recognizing the faces of acquaintances a few steps away. These are all common symptoms of cataracts. Some elderly people do not care much about their eyes and ignore the changes in their vision until they are screened for cataracts during health checkups. As the standard of living improves, more and more elderly people are paying attention to the quality of life and, likewise, to the quality of their vision. Many people ask, “Is cataract a terrible thing? What should I do? Can they be prevented? How can it be treated? I will answer each of these questions in turn. Ophthalmologists around the world are constantly exploring the causes of cataracts. Unfortunately, the cause of cataracts is still unclear. However, there is one thing that is widely recognized by scholars, that is, high intensity UV light can lead to the development of cataracts, which is why the incidence of cataracts is high in high altitude plateau areas, such as Tibet and Qinghai. Therefore, prevention of prolonged and high exposure of the eyes to UV radiation is a preventive measure worthy of attention. In addition, nutritional factors are also worthy of attention. As you can imagine, a healthy, balanced diet is beneficial to human health, as well as to the health of the human eye. So, how can cataracts be treated? Is medication effective? Since the cause of cataract is still unclear, according to clinical observation, there is no drug that can really prevent and treat cataract, whether it is the imported preparation or herbal preparation currently sold in hospitals and markets, or the drugs advertised in some advertisements. At the same time, it should be noted that some hospitals and clinics exaggerate the pharmacological effects of certain drugs for the sake of profiteering, while these drugs, which have no real effect, are at best a placebo. Since there are no drugs that can effectively prevent and delay the onset and development of senile cataracts, surgery is the only effective method when cataracts affect learning and life. There are 60 million cataract patients in China, and 1 million of them should be treated with surgery. In recent years, the success rate of cataract surgery has improved significantly due to the continuous progress of science and technology, especially the minimally invasive cataract ultrasound emulsion surgery and the application of advanced IOLs, which have not only restored the eyesight of many patients, but also restored the visual effects of their youth and significantly improved their quality of life.