The cataract is the loss of transparency of the crystalline lens, which not necessarily affects the vision. It is the major cause of treatable blindness in the world, what represents a serious public health problem in developing countries. The aim of this study was to determine the profile of patients who underwent cataract surgery at Bettina Ferro de Souza Hospital from July to December of 2008. It was developed a crossing type study using the medical records of 186 cataract surgeries performed during that period. The results have shown that most of patients were older than 60 years (69,3%), with a greater prevalence of women (56,5%), more frequently proceeding from Belém (81,7%), with the senile type being the most common (64%). On the other side, many medical records did not mention the site of lesion (33,9%) nor the visual acuity previously (13,4%). The most performed surgery technique was the extracapsular extraction (82,8%). The complication rate was 5,9% and the loosening of sutures the most common among them. Even with the difficulty to analyze some aspects of the research due to inappropriate filling of medical records, it was possible to infer from the study that great part of poor people do not have access to this surgical treatment, mostly people from the countryside. This conclusion is reinforced by the low visual acuity presented by these patients when they reach the ophthalmologic service of the hospital. Therefore, this study has concluded that it is necessary to enlarge the ophthalmologic care within the State in order to improve the access of needy people to this kind of health treatment.
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