Cataracts:
Understanding the Causes, Symptomas, and Treatment Options
A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye that affects vision. It’s like looking through a frosted glass window – everything appears blurry, hazy, or cloudy. Cataracts are a common age-related condition that affects millions of people worldwide. In this article, we’ll delve into the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options for cataracts.
Types of Cataracts
There are several types of cataracts, including:
1. Age-related cataracts (senile cataracts):
This is the most common type, affecting older people. It becomes more common with increasing age. Men and women are equally affected. Sometimes, both eyes are affected, but one eye may be worse than the other.
2. Congenital cataracts:
Present at birth, these are rare and important to diagnose early. This is because vision and seeing have to be learned very early in infancy. A cataract that is present at birth stops the eye from learning to see and can cause blindness which may persist even if the cataract is removed later in life.
3. Other types of cataracts:
There are some uncommon causes of cataracts. A cataract may develop after an injury to an eye, or as a result of radiation exposure. Cataracts sometimes develop as a secondary problem. For example, as a complication of some other eye conditions, and some people with diabetes develop cataracts.
Causes of Age-Related Cataracts
The cause of age-related cataracts is not entirely clear. There seems to be a change to the structure of the proteins in the lens. This may be caused by a disturbance in the way fluids and nutrients get to the lens as you become older. Some of the proteins may then clump together in places within the lens. This causes tiny areas of cloudiness. Each tiny area of cloudiness blocks a bit of light getting past to the retina. The severity of the cataract depends on the number of areas of cloudiness that develop in the affected lens. Most affected people develop a cataract for no apparent reason.
Factors that may increase the chance of developing cataracts include:
– Having a poor diet
– Being exposed to a lot of ultraviolet light
– Steroid medicines
– Having a family history of cataracts
– Trauma
– Increasing age
– Smoking
– Obesity
– Previous eye injury or inflammation
Symptoms of Age-Related Cataracts
At first, you may notice your vision becoming a bit blurred. With time, you may notice some of the following:
– Having spots in your vision
– Seeing halos around bright lights – for example, street lights
– Not being able to see as well in brightly lit rooms or in sunshine
– Becoming easily dazzled by bright lights such as the headlights of an oncoming car
– Your color vision may become washed out or faded
– Over the years, your vision may gradually become worse and unable to be corrected by glasses
– Depending on the severity of the cataract, the effect on your sight can range from vision being slightly blurred to complete blindness in the affected eye
Diagnosis of Age-Related Cataracts
A cataract can usually be diagnosed easily by an optometrist when they examine your eyes. This may be done because you have noticed a problem with vision. Sometimes an early cataract is detected during a routine eye check, before you have noticed a problem with vision.
Treatment of Age-Related Cataracts
There are no medicines, eye drops that can treat cataracts. Laser can be used to treat cataract. This is a very common operation. The operation involves removing the cloudy lens and replacing it with an artificial plastic lens (an intraocular implant). It is a routine operation that usually takes around 20 minutes.
What Happens During a Cataract Operation?
Usually, one eye is operated on at a time. In most people, the operation is done under local anesthetic. This means that you are awake during the operation but it is not painful because local anesthetic eye drops are used to numb your eye. (Occasionally, local anesthetic injections are used around the eye.) The operation is performed, using a microscope, through a very small opening in the eye. When the eye is numb, the surgeon makes a tiny hole in the front of the eye at the edge of the cornea. Then, the surgeon pushes a tiny thin instrument into the lens through the front part of the lens capsule. The instrument emits ultrasound waves that break up the contents of the lens within the lens