CATARACTS

By age 80, more than half of all Americans have a cataract, a clouding of the eye lens that causes fogged vision, or have had cataract surgery. More than 1 million cataract surgeries are performed annually. “Doctors tend to let patients be their guides,” says Dr. Stephen Orlin, an ophthalmic surgeon at Penn’s Scheie Eye Institute. “When they complain their vision is foggy, that’s when it’s time to operate.”