I. How did I get cataracts? Do I need an operation? You can often see such “patients” in outpatient clinics. They are around 50 years old, and when they hear the doctor say they have cataracts during medical checkups, they are so scared that they can’t eat or sleep for a while because they have heard that cataracts have to be operated. “Will I go blind?” Such questions especially burdened them psychologically. So how do we get cataracts? Cataracts are actually a clouding of the lens in the human eye, which usually starts around the age of 50, just as we start to grow gray hair and wrinkles at a certain age. Early cataracts have a relatively small impact on our vision, and many people do not even feel the problem, so surgery is not needed in this case. Generally, when cataracts cause vision loss that affects our daily life, only then do we need to consider surgery. Second, is it best to wait until the cataract is completely invisible to have surgery? This is a misconception. Although the technology of cataract surgery is relatively mature and the success rate of surgery is very high, the difficulty of surgery increases as the degree of cataract gradually worsens, especially for many cataracts in the over-ripe stage, and the risk of surgery is relatively high. Therefore, in general, surgery can be considered when cataract causes vision lower than 0.3. Some elderly people who need to drive and other fine eye use can relax this standard appropriately. Do all cataract surgeries require “lenses”? If conditions allow, “lenses” are generally required. Implanting an IOL is a very important part of modern cataract surgery. The IOL can replace the cloudy crystals that have been surgically removed and provide a certain amount of refraction, which solves the pain of having to wear highly farsighted glasses after surgery.