Cataracts
A cataract occurs when the natural lens of the eye loses it’s clarity over time. This may be caused by U.V sun exposure, by time or by many other factors. The eye functions very much like a camera. Just as a camera has a focusing lens, so does the natural lens of the eye focus images. A young eye has a clear lens which provides clear, sharp images. As the lens loses it’s clarity the images that it produces become blurred and distorted. Furthermore, colors become “washed out” and less vivid. It is also very common for the developing cataract to cause glare and reflections or haloes around lights. The glare may occur at night, while driving, or during the day with sunlight.
What exactly is a cataract?
- anterior cortical cataract – looks like a star
- mature or “ripe” cataract
How do I know if I have cataracts?
Common symptoms include increasing difficulty performing day-to-day tasks such as reading and driving, especially at night. Since the cataract is a clouding or darkening of the natural lens in your eye, you may feel that the world simply looks darker. Many people find that reading becomes more difficult and requires more and more light over time . Night time vision becomes especially difficult because of the decreased contrast and dimness, as well as the glare from oncoming or overhead lights. The light entering through a cataract becomes deflected and defocused and can cause annoying and often disabling glare. People often comment that a cataract is like having “a film over the eye”. Furthermore, as your cataract worsens, it also changes your glasses prescription until it eventually reaches a point where no prescription will help improve the vision anymore. Patients often report annoying double vision or distorted images through their cataract. The good news is that modern cataract surgery has become one of the most effective and highly successful procedures known within the medical community
- normal vision
- cloudy vision