ABSTRACT
Cataracts are currently the leading cause of blindness worldwide with the majority of cases in developing nations. Of the 38 million cases of blindness (visual acuity less than 20/400), an estimated 16 million are caused by age-related cataracts. Moreover, in Nepal alone the percentage of curable blindness resulting from cataracts is more than 80 percent. Estimates for Tibet suggest that the problem is just as critical there. A 1987 Tibet eye study revealed that debilitating cataracts were present in 11.8 percent of the population older than 40 years of age and in more than 50 percent older than 70 years of age.
