A few days ago, 65-year-old Auntie Wang suddenly felt severe pain in her left eye, which was red and tearing, and was accompanied by nausea and vomiting. The ophthalmologist did a detailed examination and found that Auntie Wang had a serious cataract in her left eye and acute angle-closure glaucoma, which required immediate hospitalization for surgery. The doctor informed, “Because of secondary glaucoma, I’m afraid it will be difficult to regain sight even if cataract surgery is done now.” Hearing this result, Auntie Wang regretted a lot. At that time, the doctor suggested her to have cataract surgery, but she didn’t agree to it because she heard from the old people in the community that cataract surgery is best when you can’t see anything, that is, when you are “blind”, so she waited until she was “blind”. So she waited until she was “blind” and then had the surgery. If she had listened to the doctor’s recommendation for cataract surgery 2 years ago, her left eye would not have been in such a situation. There are not a few elderly friends who hold the same view as Auntie Wang – that cataracts need to wait until they can’t see before surgery. In China, cataract is the eye disease with the highest rate of blindness, according to statistics, the incidence rate is 60% to 70% between the ages of 50 and 60, and up to 80% above the age of 70. The main treatment for cataract is surgery to remove the cataract and implant an IOL. It is a past view that it is best to wait until you can’t see anything, i.e., when you are fully mature and “blind”. The main reason is that cataract surgery in the past was performed by intracapsular extraction method, which was not operated under microscope and did not implant IOLs, and patients had to wear highly farsighted glasses after surgery, or extracapsular cataract extraction with large incisions, which resulted in large postoperative astigmatism and not particularly satisfactory results. patients are relatively satisfied. In recent years, with the advancement of science and technology, the development of microsurgery and the implantation of new IOLs, cataract surgery methods and surgical results have been greatly improved. At present, cataract ultrasonic emulsion extraction combined with IOL implantation is mainly used, which is operated under a microscope and has a smaller incision, higher efficiency, safer surgery and better results than previous cataract surgery methods. Therefore, it is not necessary to wait until the lens is completely cloudy (mature cataract stage) before the surgery is done. On the contrary, the cataract is not particularly mature, the surgery is more efficient and has fewer complications, while the capsule processing is not easy to see during the mature cataract surgery, the cataract nucleus is harder, and the surgery at this time instead has more complications and greater postoperative inflammatory reactions. Therefore, cataract surgeons are instead willing to do relatively immature cataract surgery because the results are better and the surgery is safer. So, when exactly is the most appropriate time to choose surgery when you have cataracts? Generally speaking, cataracts can be operated when they affect the patient’s study, work and life, or when they affect the treatment of other eye diseases such as retinal disease surgery, or when they lead to the emergence of other complications that threaten eye vision such as secondary glaucoma. Usually, surgery is appropriate when the vision drops to about 0.3, while people with higher vision requirements, such as drivers and fine workers, can also have surgery when their vision drops below 0.6. Although cataract surgery has certain risks and complications, the incidence is very low at the current medical level, and most patients recover well after surgery. Therefore, if you have cataract, it is best to consult a cataract specialist in a regular hospital as soon as possible, and the doctor will recommend the right time for surgery, rather than waiting until your eyes are completely blind to consult a doctor. On the other hand, early surgery can reduce the difficulty of surgery, significantly improve vision and effectively improve the quality of life, so as to reduce the risk of injuries such as falls, bruises and traffic accidents in the elderly due to cataracts.