# Should I try to find someone to remove my cataract? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-try-to-find-someone-to-remove-my-cataract/1017038 "2025-04-14T15:31:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-try-to-find-someone-to-remove-my-cataract/1017038/21 "2025-04-15T18:47:44Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I decided not to, in no small part since I’ve been wearing glasses for 65 years and not having them would just feel weird. Same here. As I mentioned above, I went from (without glasses) “blurry and distorted” to 20/15. But because of my age I still need reading glasses for anything closer than about 18 inches (books, car instrument panel, phone). I’d worn glasses for 35 years before my lens implant surgery, no longer wearing them feels weird and I like the way I look with them, so I wear progressive lenses that function as reading glasses for really close up, and are non-Rx for everything else. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-try-to-find-someone-to-remove-my-cataract/1017038/22 "2025-04-15T18:57:21Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > It isn’t that unusual to have one cataract removed years before the other eye requires it. Yes. My surgeries were years apart. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-try-to-find-someone-to-remove-my-cataract/1017038/23 "2025-04-16T02:58:55Z")
I was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes about 4 years ago, but the doc said I could put it off for years if I desired. Since I have always been squeamish about my eyes, I decided to postpone it. But now it has gotten bad enough in one eye that I can’t put it off any more, so we have it scheduled for about 2 months from now for the worst eye, and a few weeks later, for the other. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-try-to-find-someone-to-remove-my-cataract/1017038/24 "2025-04-16T03:12:26Z")
At my last eye appointment the doc said that I am just starting to get cataracts. I’m 61. I’m probably several years away. I figure the longer I wait, the better the tech will get. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-try-to-find-someone-to-remove-my-cataract/1017038/25 "2025-04-16T13:58:10Z")
I was in my early 60s and driving a truck for a living. I first noticed that I was badly affected by oncoming headlights and then blurred vision, so I went to an optician, who referred me to the eye department in Birmingham. They gave me some tests and then said that I would normally be too young for surgery, but because it was affecting my work, they agreed to do it. I was given the usual warning of what might go wrong and the consequences, and once I had signed up, cataract surgery was scheduled a few weeks later. First for one eye, and then the other two weeks later. The improvement was amazing. All of this FOC on the NHS of course. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-try-to-find-someone-to-remove-my-cataract/1017038/26 "2025-04-16T16:05:48Z")
I was a bit younger than you when it started, maybe late 50s. Although since I had always gotten a thorough ophtho exam every 6 months anyhow, mine were probably detected at an earlier stage than when yours were first noticed. At 66 now, I still have not needed to get them fixed. Like you, I’m mostly looking to the advantages of ever improving tech. I’m not squeamish about getting it done when the symptoms get significant. So far the symptoms _seem_ to still be mild to nil. But … because there’s no way to experience what my non-cataracted vision would be today, I’m only guessing at how much degradation I’m unwittingly putting up with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-try-to-find-someone-to-remove-my-cataract/1017038.md?page=1)