Dr HB LoIntegrative GP
Decision prep tool

Surgery timing · getting ready for your eye appointment

When to have cataract surgery: deciding your answer before you go in

Not "wait until it's ripe" — the real question is how much your vision is getting in the way of your life. Tell me what's harder than it used to be, and I'll hand you the self-audit and questions to take in.

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Not sure where to start? Tap one to fill it in:

This helps you prepare — it can't tell if something is serious. If your vision changed suddenly, or you have a painful red eye, call 000 or your GP now.

Optional — skip any of these. None of them are needed for your result.

Which eye(s)? (optional)
Has an optometrist or doctor mentioned a cataract? (optional)
Roughly how long has this been creeping up? (optional)
Do you still drive? (optional)

Dr HB Lo
Integrative GP · Vision-impact self-audit
General information to help you prepare. Not medical advice, and not an emergency service. This tool can't tell whether you have a cataract or whether you need surgery — only your eye health professional can. In an emergency call 000.

Your input

The thing worth knowing first

Based on RANZCO's position that visual acuity is only one factor, and the ACSQHC Cataract Clinical Care Standard, which refers on functional impact on daily activities, not on an eye-chart number alone.

Reorganised the way a clinician reads it

Where is your vision getting in the way?

Tick what's true for you. Where your words already named it, it's ticked — blank rows are honest, not hidden. This is the self-audit to hand over.

Functional self-audit. Each row shows a daily-activity domain, whether your words already mentioned it, and a question worth deciding before you go.
Where vision gets in the way From your words? Worth deciding before you go

These are the daily-function domains RANZCO and the ACSQHC standard say should drive the decision — Choosing Wisely / RANZCO and the Cataract Clinical Care Standard.

The honest two-sided bit

There's no single right time — only the time that's right for you.

Waiting "until it's ripe" is outdated — but earlier isn't automatically better either. Cataract surgery is one of the most common and successful operations done in Australia, yet it is still surgery: serious complications are uncommon but real.

The honest risks

About 1–2 in 100 operations have a problem with the back of the lens capsule during surgery (RCOphth National Ophthalmology Database), and a sight-threatening infection (endophthalmitis) happens in roughly 1 in 700 (population study).

The flip side

For people whose vision is affecting daily life, surgery on the first eye is linked with about a 31% drop in falls, and doing the second eye adds a further reduction by restoring both-eye vision (cohort study).

That's a conversation, not a calculation.

Take the card with you

Email me my vision-impact one-pager

The filled self-audit and your questions, ready to bring to your GP or optometrist.

I'll also send the occasional drhblo email. Unsubscribe anytime.

Sent — check your inbox. Here's your one-pager again so you can screenshot it now.

Made the decision to look into it? The next questions are which operation, which lens, and should the second eye follow — the full Cataract Decision Kit walks the BRAN questions and the real numbers for your situation. See the surgery-decisions hub, the BRAN question generator, and the NNT / risk-numbers visualiser.

General information to help you prepare. Not medical advice, and not an emergency service. This tool can't tell whether you have a cataract or whether you need surgery — only your eye health professional can. In an emergency call 000.