Figure 1.

Flow chart describing the pathway of cataract patients operated upon in one eye at a time (left pathway), compared with patients undergoing bilateral phacoemulsification (right pathway). The shaded steps of the left pathway show not only increased costs for managing a patient with bilateral cataract, but also the increased time that the patient will spend suffering from unsatisfactory vision. Note also that bilateral surgery results in less cost and effort in informing and preparing the patient, compared to operating on one eye at a time.