Cataracts

Cataract is a clouding of the normally clear lens of your eye which causes a clouded, blurred or dim vision making it more difficult to read, drive a car or see the expression on a friend’s face. As opposed to general belief, someone from any age group can have cataract though it is more common among people over age 40. Mostly cataract develops slowly without disturbing your eyesight early on. But with time, cataracts will eventually interfere with your vision.At beginning , stronger lighting and new eyeglasses can help you deal with cataracts. But if impaired vision affects your usual activities, you might need cataract surgery. Cataract surgery is generally a safe, effective procedure.

Causes

Cataracts are the most common cause of vision loss in people over age 50 and the principal cause of blindness in the World. Aging and travma  are the main factors in the development of this disease for the tissue that makes up your eye’s lenses changes. The lens ,where the cataracts form, is positioned behind the colored part of your eye(iris) and focuses light that passes into your eye,producing clear sharp images on the retina-the light sensitive membrane in the eye that functions like the film in a camera. As you age, the lenses in your eyes become less flexible, less transparent and thicker.

Age-related and other medical conditions-some inherited genetic disorders,past eye surgery,diabetes,long term use of steroid medications- might end with your complaint about seeing ‘halos’ around light. Also it is better to bear in mind that new born infants besides people with advancing age may have it.

Symptoms

Cataracts usually form slowly. Until they start to block light, you may not know you have them. Then you might notice these following conditions: hazy, blurred vision like looking through a cloudy piece of glass is a result of cataract as eye’s lens changes. Increasing difficulty with vision at night,need brighter light for reading, fading of colors are the most common symptoms.

What is the treatment?

When your cataracts have progressed enough to seriously impair your vision and affect your daily life it is high time to go under surgery. Do not fret over the idea of surgery since cataract surgery is simple, relatively painless procedure to regain vision when performed by an experienced and professional eye speacialist. Many people consider poor vision an inevitable fact of aging but cataract surgery is very succesful in restoring vision.  During surgery, the surgeon will remove your clouded lens and in most cases replace it with a clear, plastic intraocular lens (IOL). New IOLs are being developed all the time to make the surgery less complicated for surgeons and the lenses more helpful to patients. The surgery takes almost ten minutes under local anesthesia after which the patient immediately goes back to his everyday normal life.