In a randomized controlled trial, cataract surgery in both eyes increased benefits compared to surgery in one eye only

Impact of differences between eyes on binocular measures of vision in patients with cataracts

“…Both visual acuity and contrast sensitivity substantially improve after first-eye surgery and, to a lesser extent, after second-eye surgery. 2 Thus, first-eye surgery results in good binocular visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, which are strongly influenced by the better eye value. However, this may result in a considerable difference between eyes.…”

“…Two randomized clinical trials showed that the most important outcome of surgery in both eyes, compared with surgery in one eye only, was stereopsis, followed by patient-reported visual disability. 2,3 A possible limitation of our study is the similarity between eyes related to preoperative visual acuity. Because patients with a visual acuity of 0.3 logMAR or worse in both eyes were selected, the range of preoperative visual acuities might be narrower than that of patients undergoing surgery in both eyes.…”

“…In this context, some studies have shown that second-eye cataract surgery restores lack of stereopsis. 2,3 Moreover, lack of stereopsis has been associated with an increased risk of falls in the elderly 4 and a lower quality of life. 5 Studies on binocular vision have mainly focused on the negative impact that differences between eyes, owing to surgery in one eye only, may have on binocular measures of vision, such as stereopsis, binocular visual acuity, and binocular contrast sensitivity.…”

Immediate vs delayed sequential cataract surgery: a comparative study

“…An increasing number of sources recommend that cataract surgery should be done for both eyes in patients with bilateral cataracts. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] However, it is still unknown whether it is better for these patients to have ISCS or delayed sequential cataract surgery (DSCS). Despite the obvious benefits of ISCS to patients and society, [8][9][10][11] the major reluctance of ophthalmologists to perform ISCS revolves to some extent around its non-catastrophic complications, such as refractive surprises, and most importantly, its catastrophic complications, such as endophthalmitis, 11 especially due to contaminated instrument-derived incidents; 12 however, the literature indicates that the safety of ISCS has been increasing, 1,[13][14][15][16][17] particularly with recent advancements of microsurgical techniques 18,19 and the use of strict protocols for post-operative endophthalmitis prophylaxis.…”

Old age and the functional consequences of amblyopia

“…Surgery on the second eye, or on both eyes, was found to produce a better quality-of-life outcome than surgery on only one eye. [11][12][13][14] Similarly, a group of patients with various forms of ocular disease measured by utility analysis exhibited a significantly higher quality of life with good vision in both eyes than in only one eye. 15 It appears then that amblyopia, although it has its onset in childhood, has a major functional effect at the other end of the lifespan that has not been measured in some recent cohort studies.…”