It is age related opacification of crystalline lens affecting persons of either sex usually above the age of 50 years. By 70 years, over 90% of the individuals develop senile cataract. The condition is usually bilateral, but almost always one eye is affected earlier than the other.

Clinical features:

Ø  Gradual painless progressive diminution of vision in one or both eyes.

Ø  Symptoms include glare, uniocular diplopia or polyopia, coloured haloes, distortion of images and misty vision and fixed black spots in visual field.

Ø  Ocular examination reveals greyish white to white lenticular opacity on torch light examination which depends on the stage of cataract.

Ø  Depending upon the location and maturation of cataract, the visual acuity may range from 6/9 to just perception of light.

Ø  Slit-lamp examination should be performed with a fully-dilated pupil. The examination reveals complete morphology of opacity (site, size, shape, colour pattern and hardness of the nucleus).

Surgical treatment:

1.       No medical management can halt the progression of cataract.

2.       Surgery in the form of small incision cataract surgery or phacoemulsification is the preferred option.

Patient education:

u  Do not wait for maturation of cataract for undergoing lens extraction.

u  Secondary glaucoma or other complications can develop if total cataract remains unoperated for a long time.

u  Visual rehabilitation in early post operative period is faster in small incision cataract surgery.