A cataract is an eye disease that can be found in most old people. When you suffer a cataract, normal clear lens of your eye becomes cloudy or opaque, creating vision distortion. Under normal circumstances, light is focused by your eye lens onto the back of the eye, which is called as retina, so the images you can see is clear and not distorted. When cataract occurs, the clouding of this lens distorts the eye vision.

Cataract Surgery is the removal of the natural lens of the eye, which is also called crystalline lens, and has developed an opacification, which is referred to as a cataract. In general, cataract surgery is classified into three types, Phacoemulsification, Conventional extracapsular cataract extraction and Intracapsular cataract extraction.

Phacoemulsification is the most poplar method. In the procedure, a machine with an ultrasonic handpiece equipped with a titanium or steel tip is used. The tip vibrates at ultrasonic frequency and emulsifies the lens material. Sometimes the doctor may use a second fine instrument from a side port to facilitate cracking or chopping of the nucleus into smaller pieces.

Conventional extracapsular cataract extraction is a procedure that removes almost the entire natural lens while leaving the elastic lens capsule intact to allow implantation of an intraocular lens. And the doctor also makes an expression of the lens through a large incision in the cornea or sclera. Much as it involves a larger incision and the use of stitches, this conventional method may be ideal for patients who suffer very hard cataracts or in some situations where phacoemulsification fails to work.

In Intracapsular cataract extraction, the lens and the surrounding lens capsule in one piece are removed. As it requires the large incision and places pressure on the vitreous body, there is a relatively high rate of complications with this procedure. Therefore, this kind of cataract surgery has been largely replaced and is rarely done in countries where operating microscopes and high-technology equipment are already available. After lens is removed, the doctor may place an artificial plastic lens which is an intraocular lens implant in either the anterior chamber or sutured into the sulcus.

Generally speaking, cataract surgery is recommended for those people who suffer significant vision loss and are symptomatic secondary to cataract. If you suffer significant eye diseases limiting your vision which is unrelated to cataracts, your doctor may not recommend this kind of surgery to you.