Older age is not a contraindication to cataract surgery. As long as the patient has no local or systemic contraindications to surgery, cataract surgery can be performed. There have been reports of successful cataract surgery in 121-year-olds. Therefore, the age of 60- and 70-year-olds should not be used as a reason to delay surgery.
Although cataract surgery can be performed at a later date, it is better for the elderly to have a “quick and easy” surgery once they decide to have it. The reasons are as follows: First, the health condition of people generally “deteriorates” with age, so why not take advantage of the best health condition for surgery?
Secondly, since surgery is the only treatment for cataract, sooner or later, it is always necessary to operate, so why suffer the pain of “blindness” for a while longer? The elderly have poor vision, and their reaction and action are slow, so they are prone to accidents such as falls and fractures.
Third, delaying cataract surgery will delay or lose the opportunity to diagnose and treat posterior segment diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
Fourth, when cataract is overripe, it will easily cause crystalloid uveitis, secondary glaucoma and lens dislocation caused by degenerative lesions of the suspensory ligament, which will greatly affect the patient’s postoperative vision prognosis.
Fifth, try not to wait until you are “ripe” to have the procedure done again, because at present, cataract ultrasound emulsification is mostly used, which is “too old” to affect the surgical effect and has a long recovery time.
Thus, age is not an indicator to determine whether cataract surgery can be performed. If there are no local or systemic contraindications for cataract surgery, elderly people can have cataract surgery; and once the decision is made, it is better to have the surgery sooner rather than later, so as to avoid some complications of senile cataract and to protect the vision of elderly people.
Usually, patients who have difficulty in working and living, and who have difficulty in reading, can be operated, and generally their vision is below 0.3. Some patients with high vision requirements can receive surgery even with 0.5 vision in order not to affect the quality of life and work.