About Cataracts

Are you having trouble seeing colors? Has driving at night become difficult? Do often have the sensation like your vision is like looking through wax paper?

Most people in their 60’s develop at least mild cataracts. Early on, the cataract process not only makes your lens cloudy, it also makes your lens thicken and become more dense. When your lens gets bigger, you become a little more near-sighted.  A change in your eyeglass prescription may help for a short time.

But as you continue to get older, the cataract gets more and more cloudy, and eventually not even a change in your glasses prescription will improve your sight. At that point, the only way to restore your vision is to remove the cataract.

A cataract is the clouding of the eye’s natural crystalline lens. The lens assists with focusing light rays on to the retina, which translates the image to the brain.

After the lens starts to cloud it is impossible to return the lens to its clear state with medications. At this point the only way to get rid of cataracts is to undergo surgery. Some people think a cataract is a growth on the outside of the eye but a cataract is actually the gradual clouding occurring with the lens located inside your eye just behind the pupil. Cataracts can be caused by many factors including just getting older. Eye doctors will tell you that anybody who lives a good long life is more than likely to develop cataracts. Environmental factors such as exposure to UV rays can also affect cataract development. Luckily, with technological advancements, cataract surgery is easier, safer and more effective than ever. More than 3 million cataract surgeries are performed in the United States every year, and have been statistically shown to produce excellent outcomes.

Cataract surgery is the most common surgical procedure performed on adults in the United States. The procedure is performed on an outpatient basis, the actual surgery generally takes a half-hour or less, and recovery time is usually only a few days.

What causes a cataract?

Cataracts are caused mainly by age, trauma, heredity, and exposure to ultraviolet rays. Cataracts can also occur as a result of an eye disease, after the use of certain medications, or as a result of medical conditions such as diabetes.

• Getting Older – Age is a major cause of developing cataracts.
• Birth defect like abnormal conditions in the eyes of unborn babies
• Environmental factors such as disease, toxic chemicals, medications
• Accidents or Injuries
• Exposure to ultraviolet light
• Cigarette Smoking