Cataract

Abstract

“Cataract” means an opacity of the lens, and it is the commonest potentially blinding condition which confronts the eye surgeon. This is not to say that every person with cataract is liable to go blind. Many patients have relatively slight lens opacities that progress very slowly. Fortunately the results of surgery are very good, a satisfactory improvement of vision being obtained in about 90% of cases. It is usually possible to forewarn the patients when there is an additional element of doubt about the outcome. To the uninformed patient “cataract” strikes a note of fear and it may be necessary to explain that opacities in the lens are extremely common in elderly people. It is only when the opaque lens fibres begin to interfere with the vision that the term “cataract” is used. Many patients have a slight degree of cataract, which advances so slowly that they die before any visual problems arise.