[Cataract surgery - essentials for the general practitioner]

Age-related cataracts are mainly caused by life-long accumulation of oxidative stress on the lens fibres. Symptoms include reduced visual acuity, requiring more light for reading, and glare. The only treatment that provides a cure for cataracts is surgery. Phacoemulsification represents the preferred method of lens removal. It involves fragmentation of the lens using ultrasound and insertion of an artificial intraocular lens. The preoperative assessment the general practitioner provides to surgeon and anesthesia team has an important share in the low complication rate of the procedure in the event of co-existing systemic disease. Growing patient expectation for spectacle independence following cataract surgery is met to some extent using techniques for astigmatism control and presbyo-pia-correcting intraocular lenses.