Cataract is a major cause of blindness according to the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD). Indian government successfully conducted 83.4 lakh cataract surgeries in 2022-2023.
“With the efforts of healthcare workers and the NPCBVI team, more than 83.4 lakh successful cataract surgeries have been carried out in 2022-23 which is a record,” reports have said citing officials from the health ministry. There is a need to know about cataract and its surgery in India as the population of elderly people in the country has crossed 138 million. In view of the severity of the disease and the vision issues associated with it, here are a few important things you need to know about cataract surgery, which is also known as motiyabind surgery.
What is a cataract?
A cataract is a clouding of the natural lens in the eye, which is normally clear and transparent. This clouding of the lens can cause blurred vision, reduced contrast sensitivity, glare from lights, and difficulty seeing in low-light conditions. Cataracts typically develop slowly over time, and they are a common age-related eye condition, although they can also be caused by factors like injury, certain medications, and medical conditions.
Cataracts can vary in size and density, and the degree of visual impairment they cause can also vary. In the early stages, people may not notice significant vision changes, but as the cataract progresses, vision can deteriorate, making it harder to perform daily activities like reading, driving, and recognizing faces.
How to know if you need a cataract surgery?
If you find difficulty in doing your daily job safely and have vision trouble, you should consider getting checked for cataracts. If you have a problem reading or watching television get your eyes tested by a doctor. If vision problems make you dependent on others you should check for cataracts. Another typical characteristic is that because of cataracts, it gets difficult to see even in bright light.
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The most effective treatment for cataracts is surgical removal. Cataract surgery involves removing the clouded natural lens and replacing it with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL). This procedure is typically safe and highly successful, allowing most people to regain clear vision and improve their quality of life. Cataract surgery is one of the most common surgical procedures performed worldwide, and it is usually done on an outpatient basis with a relatively short recovery time.
How is cataract surgery done?
There are different types of cataract surgery like phacoemulsification in which the surgeon makes an incision up to 3 millimeters for an ultrasonic probe that breaks up the cataract with vibration. The broken cataract fragments are removed from the eyes with suction and a foldable lens is inserted.
The other method using which cataract surgery is done in India is manual small-incision cataract surgery or MSICS. This is a preferred method in those cases where phacoemulsification fails to work. Unlike phacoemulsification, in MSICS the cataract is removed in a single piece.
As per a study published in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, 11.11% of surgeons used only phaco-emulsification, and 9.8% used only manual small-incision cataract surgery (MSICS) as the lone cataract treatment modality.
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Femto-laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) is another common medical procedure to remove cataracts. In this method, a computer-guided laser performs an incision in the cornea. This method is an evolution of the traditional methods and is non-invasive.
Risks associated with cataract surgery
While cataract surgery is considered to be one of the most successful surgeries worldwide, there can be complications if one has underlying eye disease. The common complications are swelling, infection, bleeding, drooping eyelid, glaucoma, secondary cataracts, and loss of vision. Another complication is retinal detachment, in which the retina moves out of place. In some cases, the artificial lens also moves out of place.
