The latest innovation is laser cataract surgery. Cataract surgery is done more than any other operation in America — a million and a half times a year.
Cataracts typically require surgical removal and replacement of the eye’s lens. A cataract is a clouding of the lens inside the eye, causing vision loss that cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses or corneal refractive surgery like LASIK.
Most cataracts are associated with the aging process and are common among older Americans. In fact, recent studies have estimated that 20.5 million Americans over age 40 (17 percent) have a cataract in one or both eyes, and more than 6 million in this age group (5 percent) already have had cataract surgery.
Cataract surgery is one of the safest and most effective surgical procedures performed in the United States, especially if you are healthy and don’t have pre-existing eye conditions such as diabetic retinopathy or macular degeneration.
Treatment for cataracts is successful; more than 982percent of the 3 million-plus cataract surgeries performed each year in the United States are considered successful.
In fact, about 95 percent of patients are able to restore their full pre-cataract distance vision after undergoing the standard intraocular lens (IOL) procedure.