Summary: Although cataract surgery, for many patients, dramatically improves vision, the potential exists for complications that can actually worsen eyesight. Another concern is that some patients may be undergoing cataract surgery when it is not really needed. About three-quarters of the Medicare patients GAO surveyed reported that before surgery, significant eyesight problems had interfered with their ability to drive, read, or watch television. By including symptoms like blurred vision and sensitivity to glare, the proportion of patients with substantial presurgicial vision problems rose to 84 percent. Surgery may have been more questionable, however, for the remaining 16 percent of patients with "slight" symptoms. The overwhelming majority of respondents said that their surgery had been successful. For about two-thirds, the improvement was uniform across all dimensions; that is, the vision symptoms and functions that did not get better at least stayed unchanged. Most of the other patients (30 percent) reported mixed results, with improvements in some symptoms or functional impairments and worsening in others.
