Understanding Cataracts
What Is A Cataract?
The lenses of our eyes are used to focus our sight and are normally clear. For individuals with cataracts, the normal clearness has been replaced with a cloudiness or lack of transparency. This can be due to normal age related changes or can be caused by a specific trauma to the eye. Other causes of cataracts include certain medications and diseases such as diabetes.
The effect of clouding can range from mild with minimum effects on vision to severe, with the ability to detect motion or shapes completely lost. When the loss of transparency is significant enough to affect vision, it is referred to as a cataractous lens or more commonly, a cataract. Cataracts are a very common eye problem with over a million and a half people having cataracts removed each year.
Cataract symptoms
There are a variety of types of cataracts with each having a different effect on an individual’s vision. Some types are more likely to initially affect reading and near vision, while other will affect distant vision. In some farsighted (known as hyperopic) individuals, vision can actually improve initially, while myopic or nearsighted persons will have an initial reduction in distant vision.
Typical age related cataracts progress without pain and are characterized by gradual decreases in vision. You may experience any of the following:
- decrease in color intensity
- glare, especially at night
- blurring of vision
- frequent change of eyeglass or contact prescription
- yellowing of images
- double vision is experienced rarely
Please Contact Goodman Eye Medical Center for free written information about cataract surgery and lens implants.
