Why Does Modern Cataract Surgery Cost More to Deliver Than You Might Think?
Because the operation you see is only the visible few minutes of a process that takes weeks. The time in theatre is short, but the pathway around it, the planning, the technology, the counselling and the follow-up, is where most of the true cost of a modern cataract operation actually lies.
Almost everything that touches the patient is now single-use. Disposable instrumentation lowers the risk of infection and cross-contamination, but it means a striking volume of packaging and consumables is bought, stocked and disposed of for every case, at a financial and environmental cost that reusable kit did not carry.¹ Advanced biometry and imaging platforms, needed to plan surgery precisely and select the right lens, are expensive to buy and maintain. Premium theatre standards add further cost again.³
The least visible expense is time. Modern consent, counselling, documentation and post-operative follow-up consume far more of a clinical day than they did twenty years ago, driven by higher expectations and closer scrutiny. Even the choice of lens carries downstream cost implications, as national audit data on posterior capsule opacification and subsequent laser treatment has shown.² Safer, better surgery is not cheaper surgery. It is, in almost every respect, more expensive to provide, which is why the quality of a cataract pathway cannot be judged by price alone.
References
- Baveja GB, Chang DF. Quantifying the reduction in economic and environmental impact of reusable versus single-use phacoemulsification tubing and cassettes. Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. 2026;52(2):124-130.
- Malcolm J, Donachie PHJ, Hernandez R, Buchan JC. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ National Ophthalmology Database study of cataract surgery: report 20, the hidden cost of intraocular lens choices for National Health Service funded cataract surgery in England. Eye. 2025;39(17):3142-3147.
- Portney DS, Berkowitz ST, Garner DC, Qalieh A, Tiwari V, Friedman S, Patel S, Parikh R, Mian SI. Comparison of incremental costs and Medicare reimbursement for simple versus complex cataract surgery using time-driven activity-based costing. JAMA Ophthalmology. 2023;141(4):358-364.
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