Cataract surgery could eliminate reading glasses

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Cataract surgery is a new option for people with presbyopia, the long-sightedness that develops in middle age.
Most people start to notice changes in their vision as they enter middle age. They begin to develop presbyopia - an inability to focus upon nearby objects, like the printed word. That's why reading glasses become a must. However, there is now a new option, derived from cataract surgery.

People with cataracts can have their eye lenses - which have clouded over - removed and replaced with implantable contact lenses. Some ophthalmologists are now looking at this approach as a treatment for presbyopia. In a new report, Harvard Medical School experts offer some advice to those considering this form of cataract surgery for presbyopia. They warn that it may not be covered by insurance unless you also have cataracts. There are also risks involved, as in any eye operation, and some ophthalmologists may not think these justified as presbyopia - unlike cataract - can be just as easily be corrected by glasses. There is currently little information on the long-term safety and effectiveness of cataract surgery for presbyopia. The surgery carries a very small risk of infection that could lead to blindness. And, say the experts, it is important to understand that the cataract surgery does not lead to 20/20 vision.

Source
Harvard Medical School 13th September 2006

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