Study indicates Macular Degeneration doesn't get worse with Caract surgery.

Until now it is commonly held that cataract surgery can speed the development of macular degeneration (AMD). A new study, however, indicates that this may be more linked to age than to each other.

"Because both conditions are strongly age-related, many individuals with cataract also have AMD," wrote Li Ming Dong, of Stony Brook University School of Medicine in New York, and colleagues. "There has been a long-standing controversy among clinicians as to whether cataract surgery is contraindicated in eyes with non-neovascular AMD. A major concern has been whether cataract surgery increases the risk of progression to neovascular AMD (an advanced form of the disease involving formation of new blood vessels) in eyes at risk of progression such as those with intermediate AMD."

 "Our findings suggest that previous reports of the association or progression of non-neovascular AMD to advanced AMD after cataract surgery could be biased," the researchers wrote. They concluded that their findings do not support the hypothesis that cataract surgery contributes to the progression of AMD.