Why do the majority of senior citizens require cataract operations?

It does seem as if every other person over 60 is having cataract surgery, doesn't it?

This is not because there is a recent dramatic increase in eye disease or deteriorating vision, but because of the intersection of several demographic and technological trends. The first is the huge Baby Boom generation moving overwhelmingly into their senior years. They (We, actually, since I am one) have a different attitude towards elective surgery than the previous generation for whom surgery was only for very sick, end-stage, or traumatized individuals. Furthermore, this generation universally has access to Medicare after age 65 which foots the bill. Make something useful nearly free and there will be greatly increased demand for it -Economics 101.

A second, and equally important, trend is the rapid development in recent decades of ophthalmic medical technology. LASIK, high-performance Intraocular lenses, micro-incisional laser surgery, and next-day visual rehabilitation (along with a steadily increasing safety profile) provide fewer reasons to "put it off." And there are even additional reasons to have it done sooner than used to be the case, e.g. eliminating myopia simultaneously as an extra benefit.

Rather than being strictly treatment for a disease, "cataract" surgery is a highly successful refractive procedure that restores an aging person's ability to function visually as a younger person might. No wonder it seems to become more and more popular among seniors.

Written by J. Trevor Woodhams, M.D. - Chief of Surgery, Woodhams Eye Clinic