Cataract Surgery Not a Risk for AMD: Study
For years, researchers believed that cataract surgery put patients more at risk to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD) later on. Now, thanks to a definitive study done by the National Eye Institute in the United States, this theory has been disproved – patients can go ahead with cataract surgery without worrying about increasing their risk for AMD.
The research, part of the National Eye Institute’s Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), was published in the February 2009 issue of the journal Ophthalmology. It examined 4,577 participants aged 55 through 81, and included more than five years of follow-up.
Normally our eye’s lens offers some protection from ultraviolet-B (UV-B) light, which is a risk factor for AMD. Cataract surgery removes the natural lens, and it was thought that this might increase a patient’s risk of AMD. Several previous studies had raised exactly this concern.
However, the AREDS study showed that there was little evidence that cataract surgery increased people’s chances of developing AMD or of progressing in the disease if they already had it.
One factor thought to explain the discrepancy between its results and previous studies is the significant changes in types of lenses used for implantation that have occurred over time. Whereas a number of patients in the previous studies did not receive lenses containing UV-B blocking properties as a part of their surgery, today most cataract patients receive implanted lenses with these properties, which may have protected them from AMD.