Too Young for Cataract Surgery?

Question: I need to know if I am too young for cataract surgery and a lens implant. I had headaches and had an eye exam and was told one eye is 20/20 and the other has a fast growing cataract that is causing me to have bad vision in that eye. The eye doctor said I am rather young for cataract surgery-I'm 43 years old. He said if I had cataract surgery I would forever lose a lot of my eyesight in that eye and will be forced to wear glasses from that time. Knowing that sight technology has progressed very quickly over that past few years I was wondering do I have a better option that would be good at my age?


Answer: If you have a Cataract, the time to have Cataract Surgery and a Lens Implant is when it causes a significant enough disturbance of your vision that you experience symptoms that are uncomfortable or troubling to you. Your age is relatively immaterial in the decision to have Cataract Surgery. As long as your health is otherwise good and your eye heath is otherwise unremarkable, you can have Cataract Surgery to improve the vision in that eye any time you choose. However, at 43 years old you are likely to be entering the age of presbyopia onset which means you are likely to experience near vision focusing problems sometime soon whether on not you have a Cataract. This would require the use of reading glasses or bifocals even without a Cataract. If you have Cataract Surgery and a Lens Implant it might be possible to have a Multifocal Lens Implant to give you a better range of vision, if the Cataract Surgeon feels this is a good choice for you. Typically Multifocal Lens Implants work best when implanted in both eyes so there is some question here. Your next step is to find the best Cataract Surgeon in your area and schedule an examination and consultation for evaluation of the Cataract and to discuss the possibility of Cataract Surgery as having headaches is enough of a symptom to warrant further investigation. Again you are not too young and age is NOT a reason to avoid Cataract Surgery.

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