Cataract surgery in Japan and Asia

The number of cataract/IOL surgery in Japan was 300000 in 1992, which has almost tripled to 980000 in 2005. During this period, phacoemulsification has become the procedure of choice, especially the small incision cataract surgery using foldable intraocular lenses. In 2005, 84% of lenses were foldables. In recent years, surgeons' interest has been directed toward smaller, micro incision surgery. Several surgeons have adopted bimanual sleeve-less phacoemulsification, but more recently growing attention has been paid to coaxial micro incision surgery. In Japan, Alcon single-piece AcrySof and HOYA AcryFold intraocular lenses are used for micro incision cataract surgery, which can be implanted through 2.2-mm incision. Current situations of cataract surgery in our area will be presented.