Cataract
Removing the clouded natural lens and replacing it with a clear intraocular lens, bringing back sharp vision along with colour and contrast.
A cataract is the eye’s own lens turning cloudy with age. Surgery removes it and puts a clear artificial lens in its place, and the lens you choose shapes how you see for the rest of your life.
What a cataract is
The lens inside the eye is clear at birth and clouds slowly with age. As it does, vision dulls, colours lose their strength, headlights scatter into glare at night, and prescriptions start changing more often than they used to. A cataract is not a growth or a film over the eye; it is the lens itself losing its clarity.
There is no drop or exercise that reverses it. Surgery is the only treatment, and it is among the most commonly performed operations in medicine.
The operation
Through an incision of a few millimetres, the clouded lens is broken up by ultrasound, a step called phacoemulsification, and removed. A folded intraocular lens is then injected through the same opening and unfolds into the capsule that held the natural lens. The incision is small enough that it usually seals without stitches.
It is done under anaesthetic drops, takes well under an hour, and you go home the same day.
Choosing your lens
This is the decision that shapes your vision afterwards, and it depends more on how you spend your day than on which lens is newest.
| Lens | Good for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Monofocal | One distance, cleanest optics, night driving | Reading glasses needed |
| Multifocal | Least dependence on glasses overall | Glare, halos and reduced contrast at night |
| EDOF | Distance plus screen-range vision | Similar night-vision effects; near vision may still need help |
| Toric | Correcting astigmatism | Needs precise alignment; costs more |
A monofocal lens gives sharp vision at a single distance, and most patients set it for distance and read with glasses. A multifocal has several corrective zones built into it, much like a bifocal spectacle lens. Splitting light between those zones is what can produce glare, halos around lights and loss of contrast, particularly for night drivers.
The question that usually decides it: how often do you drive after dark? Frequent night drivers often do better with a monofocal lens, even though it means reading glasses.
Measurement matters as much as the lens
The power of the lens implanted in your eye is calculated beforehand from the length of the eye and the curvature of the cornea. Those measurements decide whether you hit the refractive target. Optical biometry is the standard tool for this, and it is the reason a careful pre-operative workup is not an upsell but the foundation of the result.
Recovery
- The first dayVision is hazy and the eye may feel gritty. A shield is worn overnight.
- The first weekDrops several times a day. Avoid rubbing the eye, swimming, and dusty environments.
- Weeks two to sixVision sharpens and settles. Any final glasses prescription is checked once it is stable.
Can a cataract come back?
No. The lens is removed and does not regrow. Some patients later develop clouding of the thin capsule behind the implant, which is treated in minutes with a YAG laser in clinic.
Should I wait until it is “ripe”?
That advice belongs to older surgical techniques. Today the decision rests on how much the cataract interferes with your life: driving, reading, work.
Will I be awake?
Yes, with anaesthetic drops and usually a mild sedative. You will see light and movement, not the surgery.
Can both eyes be done together?
They are normally done on separate dates, a short interval apart, so the first eye settles before the second.
This page is general information, not medical advice. Findings vary from person to person, and only an examination can tell you what applies to your eyes.