Cataracts, often recognizable by the cloudy vision they create and can become quite bothersome. While cataracts will not affect your lifespan, they will eventually affect your vision.

Without cataract surgery, those with cataracts can expect to one day be blind. Cataracts are the worlds leading cause of blindness and affect millions of people each year. Usually developing later in life, cataract are like a film covering the inside of your lens. Cataracts are removed by replacing the natural lens with a new artificial lens, or IOL.

There are many types of IOL’s. Some can even offer the possibility of eliminating dependence on reading glasses after cataract surgery.

The decision to have cataract surgery, is often made when the vision has become so cloudy that it affects the day to day life of the patient. Cataract surgery is an elective surgery. It is ultimately up to the individual as to when they decide to have the surgery.

A major consideration when deciding when to have surgery is often the price of the lens being implanted. Some of the new lenses are very expensive and do not promise perfect results. Considering that most insurance plans do not cover these lenses, this is often the most difficult decision of patients to make.

There is also the consideration of having both eyes done at the same time or to have one and then the other. Most often, surgeons prefer to operate on one eye, let it heal and then do the second. This often adds time to the overall procedure of having both eyes operated on.

These and other factors will be discussed with your surgeon prior to scheduling the operation. For most people, the decision is not if they have surgery, but when and what type of lens to purchase.