Millions of successful cataract procedures are performed worldwide annually. Two thousand years BCE, the Greeks manufactured hemispheres made from glass having the property to magnify written text. Recent knowledge assumes that the Greeks did not benefit from this effect: the spheres appear to have been used as ornaments or jewelry. The first reports concerning the treatment of cataracts were found in Asia around 500 BCE. To achieve just this minimal amount of visual function, the cloudy lenses were pushed into the vitreous with a needle (couching). This is still the practice in less developed countries. Today’s surgical techniques for extracting the human lens have been improved by means of the size of the incision, the use of phacoemulsification for lens extraction (the eye’s internal lens emulsified using ultrasonic energy) and hygienic standards in general.