Cataracts: the essentials for patient care

This article sets out to explain the anatomy, physiology and altered physiology associated with the crystalline lens, cataract and cataract surgery, further informing on nursing care. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment (2019). Around one billion people have a visual impairment, which could have been prevented or treated (WHO, 2019). Cataract is one such condition, which impairs vision, yet is treated by surgery. Cataract surgery is one of the most frequently performed operations; in 2018/19, 472 000 cataract surgical procedures were performed in England and Wales (Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOph), 2020). The mean age of people having cataract surgery in that time was 76 years of age; however, cataracts can affect people at any age.

As with other surgical specialties, elective ophthalmic surgery was suspended due to COVID-19, resulting in excessive waiting lists once services were restored. Post-pandemic, it is estimated that 600 000 people are on an ophthalmology first appointment waiting list, which, taking into account new patients, is estimated to take 5 years to clear (RCOph, 2022a). With this in mind, strategies such as ‘Restoration of cataract services after COVID’ (RCOph (2020) and High Flow Cataract Surgery (2022b) have been developed and implemented to provide safe and effective care within a streamlined service.