Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jan 1;34(1):27-31.
doi: 10.1097/ICU.0000000000000909. Epub 2022 Nov 21.

Cataract surgery and the risk of progression of macular degeneration

Sanjeeb Bhandari  1 , Emily Y Chew
Affiliations
Review

Cataract surgery and the risk of progression of macular degeneration

Sanjeeb Bhandari et al. Curr Opin Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Purpose of review: Cataract surgery improves vision loss due to cataracts in eyes with co-existing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), but whether surgery itself pose an increased risk for the progression of AMD has been of concern to both physicians and their patients. This review describes evidence on cataract surgery and its impact on the progression of AMD.

Recent findings: Recent evidence suggests that cataract surgery does not increase the risk for progression of AMD.

Summary: Cataract surgery should be discussed in patients with both AMD and visually significant cataract. Patients should be reassured that the cataract surgery will not increase the risk of AMD progression. In patients with AMD, especially those with the more severe intermediate stage and those with advanced AMD in the fellow eye, the natural course of progression to late AMD is high. The importance of vigilant follow-up needs to be emphasized for the detection of natural progression of the disease and early initiation of treatment should signs of neovascularization develop.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: None

References

    1. GBD 2019 Blindness and Vision Impairment Collaborators and Vision Loss Expert Group. Trends in prevalence of blindness and distance and near vision impairment over 30 years: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study. The Lancet Global health 2021;9(2):e130–e43. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Klein R, Klein BE, Jensen SC, Cruickshanks KJ. The relationship of ocular factors to the incidence and progression of age-related maculopathy. Archives of ophthalmology (Chicago, Ill : 1960) 1998;116(4):506–13. - PubMed
    1. Wang JJ, Mitchell PG, Cumming RG, Lim R. Cataract and age-related maculopathy: the Blue Mountains Eye Study. Ophthalmic epidemiology 1999;6(4):317–26. - PubMed
    1. Kanda A, Abecasis G, Swaroop A. Inflammation in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration. The British journal of ophthalmology 2008;92(4):448–50. - PubMed
    1. Klein R, Klein BE, Wong TY, Tomany SC, Cruickshanks KJ. The association of cataract and cataract surgery with the long-term incidence of age-related maculopathy: the Beaver Dam eye study. Archives of ophthalmology (Chicago, Ill : 1960) 2002;120(11):1551–8. - PubMed

MeSH terms