The Consulting Room: Cataract coverage

The conundrum in cataract surgery is that it is arguably the world’s commonest operation, yet untreated cataract remains the principal cause of world blindness. The annual cataract surgery volume worldwide is an estimated 28 million eyes but there remains about 100 million people worldwide with significant cataract. That number is set to increase despite many international initiatives over the past 20 years.

The UK has seen a remarkable increase in cataract surgery over the last 10 years; we now perform over 500,000 procedures annually. Significant changes in the sophistication of surgery leading to fewer complications has resulted in greater confidence in recommending surgery to patients. This, added to the projected demographic changes, increase in both age and life expectancy, has resulted in the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) projecting a 50% increase in cataract surgery between 2015 and 2035.