Cataract Surgery
By Rear Adm. Joyce Johnson, D.O., M.A.

My doctor recommends cataract surgery, but I'm afraid to have someone operate on my eyes. Will surgery really make a difference?

First, let's describe what a cataract is. Each eye has a clear lens through which light passes. The light continues to the retina at the back of the eye, where it is changed to an electrical impulse that continues through the optic nerve to the brain. The brain interprets the impulse as a visual image. When cataracts develop, the lens begins to cloud, light is not able to pass freely through it, and vision is dulled - or even lost.

Cataracts usually are slowly progressive. Because they develop so slowly, a significant loss of vision may not be very noticeable to a patient. Cataracts, like many other eye diseases, usually affect both eyes almost equally. Risk factors for cataracts include age, smoking, poor nutrition, corticosteroid therapy, and excessive exposure to sunlight.

During cataract surgery, the cloudy lens is removed and replaced with an artificial lens. I spoke with someone who'd had cataract surgery within the last few years - a retired pharmacist with nearly 30 years of active duty experience. He was most enthusiastic about his cataract surgery and identified six ways it improved his vision.

• Overall vision is clearer and sharper; he no longer needs glasses for distance vision (though he still requires reading glasses).
• Light dispersion has been reduced - before surgery, he perceived a small dot of light as a pattern of many dots.
• A yellow haze over his vision has been corrected. (He had one cataract removed about a month before the other and said between surgeries it was very awkward to have half his vision yellow and the other clear.)
• Color brilliance has returned.
• Images are brighter.
• Depth perception and stereovision have markedly increased.

Asked if he would have the surgery if he had it to do over again, he replied unequivocally, "Fifteen minutes of surgery is definitely worth a lifetime of vision!"

More than half a million cataracts are removed each year. Like any other surgical procedure, the removal of cataracts has risks and can have serious complications. However, it has frequently been referred to as one of the safest surgeries. If you are concerned about cataract removal or any other surgical procedure, talk with your doctor about the benefits and risks, and make a decision based on what is most important to you.