“What happens if you wait too long for cataract surgery?”

Cataract surgery becomes a tiny bit more difficult and risky if you wait too long before having it done. That is all relative and it depends upon the extent of the cataract before you wait.  Of course the longer you wait, the less good your vision will become so you handicap yourself visually by waiting too long.  Discuss the timing with your cataract surgeon or ophthalmologist.

Waiting too long means that one is suffering from vision loss unnecessarily and that the surgery may be a bit more difficult for the surgeon.

"Too long" is difficult to define. Most of the time, there is no danger in delaying cataract surgery.  Just because you have a cataract does not mean that it needs to be removed immediately.  If you are able to read, drive, see the TV, and do what you want to do comfortably, then you do not need cataract surgery. When you find yourself saying "I can't read, drive, or do what I want to do comfortably, AND that bothers me", then it is time to have cataract surgery. I was taught, and still believe, that an eye with a little bit of cataract is better than any artificial thing we can provide is true.  An artificial lens is not exactly the same as a natural lens. I'm a firm believer in the old saying:/"If ii ain't broke (or broke too bad), don't fix it!"./ You should be telling the ophthalmologist that you need cataract surgery, not the other way around.  I have seen way too many patients who have had cataract surgery elsewhere come to me complaining that "I saw better before the surgery than I do now".  Although cataract surgery generally has an excellent success rate, a small fraction of patients ends up seeing worse even when everything goes "normally". There are certain times when we may encourage you to have cataract surgery if the cataract gets in the way of diagnosing or treating diseases inside the eye like diabetes, retinal detachment, or macular degeneration. If you do have cataract that is causing some degree of visual disability, there are two reasons NOT to delay surgery.  First, if your health is good enough for surgery now, and you know that you will need surgery in the future, it is better to have it done while you are healthy enough to undergo the procedure.  I have had several dozen patients who deferred surgery too long, but then found that their general health would not permit them to have the procedure.  That put them in a bind.  They cannot see, but they will never be healthy enough to have the surgery that they need. A selfish reason not to delay surgery is that an early cataract is technically easier to remove than a "mature" or ripe" cataract.  The more mature a cataract is, the greater the probability that there will be surgical complications that will produce a less-then-optimal outcome for you.  Both you and the surgeon would prefer to have an easy procedure than a difficult one. David D. Speck MD

Your vision continues to get blurrier. Also, it can make the surgery more challenging for the surgeon and increase the risk of complications.

It’s hard to wait “too long”. Sometimes, as cataracts have been there longer, they get harder and more difficult to remove, but if you are still seeing fairly well, I’m sure you have not waited too long. What should drive your decision to have cataract surgery is your vision.