Many patients are concerned about whether cataracts need to be operated on and whether they have to wait until they are mature enough to operate.
In the past, there were more post-operative complications because the surgical technique was not mature enough. Therefore, we usually had to wait until the patient’s cataract matured and his vision was severely damaged before we told him that he needed surgery, so that even if the surgery was not successful, we could psychologically accept it and did not lose too much.
With the development of surgical technology, cataract surgery is becoming more and more mature. The complications of ultrasonic cataract surgery are also becoming less and less at present, and most doctors are skilled in operating them. Therefore, patients are advised to undergo surgery when cataract affects their daily life and work, and it is not necessary or best to wait until maturity before undergoing surgery. There are several reasons for this: 1. With the improvement of living standards, more of our elderly people have higher requirements for quality of life. Older adults can be disturbed by cataracts in painting, driving and other recreational activities, so many older adults abroad receive surgical treatment for cataracts at a very early stage. This is because although he may have 0.8 or more vision, the quality of vision is not good.
2. The best surgical condition for cataract ultrasound emulsification is intermediate or early cataract. And mature or overripe and hard cataracts routinely lead to severe corneal endothelial damage and other complications, resulting in discounted surgical results.
3. The incision of ultrasonic emulsion cataract surgery is small, usually about 2.4-3.0mm. For over-ripe cataracts, a large proportion of doctors choose larger incisions (5.0-10mm or more) for extracapsular cataract extraction for safety, which will lead to long post-operative recovery time and increased post-operative astigmatism.
4. The current high-end IOLs: such as multifocal IOLs or toric IOLs are based on ultrasound emulsification. Overly mature cataracts may miss the opportunity to implant high-end crystals.
To sum up, if your vision has affected your quality of life, you can consider receiving surgery. Generally, if your vision is around 0.3 or lower, most patients should receive cataract surgery.