The answer in short is no.
The full cataract will never come back. However, when we remove the cataract, we leave the original, natural container of the crystalline lens, which is used to wrap up and support the artificial plastic lens. This container is made of fibers and new cells can proliferate on the back of the container and the back of the container can, in time, become opaque. This is more common in people who’ve got a strong wound-healing response, for instance in children it is a common problem.
In older age, it’s less common but still can affect 10% of people who have undergone cataract surgery. The good news is that if this happens you don’t need to have any operation repeated, but simply an office-based procedure called YAG-laser capsulotomy, which takes 5 to 60 seconds max to open the back of the container, creating there a very clear pathway for the light to go through the eye and your vision recovers very quickly. There are no limitations on what can be done after the YAG laser, in the sense that you can go swimming the day after, so it’s truly a very quick, simple procedure. This is the only thing that can happen in terms of – not a cataract forming – but your vision slowly dimming off a few months, years or decades after cataract surgery.