Am I too old for cataract surgery?
When we recommend cataract surgery to elderly patients, we are often met with surprise. It is normal for older patients to wonder if they are too old for surgery. They are concerned that their bodies won’t recover well or adapt to intraocular lenses. Our experience has shown us that cataract surgery is hugely beneficial to people of all ages. Clear vision is necessary for people of all ages and will always contribute to a better quality of life. As such, we believe that patients are never too old for cataract surgery.
In 2009, a group of Turkish doctors and researchers undertook a study to determine whether cataract surgery improved the quality of life of elderly patients. They studied a group of 83 patients, all of whom were over the age of 80 and had recently undergone cataract surgery. The results of the study showed that visual acuity improved after cataract surgery for all of the participants, leading the research team to conclude that cataract removal is effective for this demographic.
We haven’t conducted a study, but we wholeheartedly agree with these results based on our experience performing cataract surgery on older patients. New advances in technology allow us to perform cataract surgery safely, quickly, and effectively on patients of all ages. Provided that a patient is relatively healthy, we are confident that cataract surgery will improve the quality of his or her life.
