What causes cataracts?
Each eye has a lens that’s essential for vision because it focuses light onto the center of your retina. Although the lens is clear, it contains different substances such as proteins. When these proteins clump together, the lens becomes cloudy, which affects your vision.
You can develop cataracts after eye surgery or following an eye injury. In most cases, however, cataracts gradually develop as you age.
Cataracts can begin developing in your 40s, but they don’t interfere with your vision until they get larger. As a result, changes in vision usually become noticeable 10-20 years after the cataract first formed.
What symptoms develop when you have cataracts?
When the cataract gets large enough, you may experience one or more of the following:
- Blurry vision
- Double vision
- Difficult time reading
- Poor night vision
- Colors appear dull
- Seeing a glare or a halo around lights
What are the different types of cataracts?
You may develop one of several types of cataracts that affect different parts of the lens:
- Nuclear cataract: forms deep in the center of the lens; this type typically correlates with aging
- Subcapsular cataract: occurs at the back of your lens and is more common in patients with diabetes
- Cortical cataract: cloudiness or white areas start around the edge of your lens then progress toward the center
How are cataracts treated?
When your cataract first begins to interfere with vision, Dr. Wilson can treat it with prescription eyeglasses, extra magnification, or anti-glare glasses. It also helps to be sure you have appropriate lighting when you read or engage in other tasks.
These treatment options may help you see clearly for many years, depending on how rapidly your cataracts enlarge and affect your vision.
When cataracts become a severe vision problem, you have one treatment option: surgery to remove the lens and replace it with a new intraocular lens. Cataract surgery very effectively treats cataracts and offers extra vision benefits. When your cloudy lens is replaced, the new lens can correct vision problems.
Lenses are available to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, which means they can correct near and distance vision.
At the first sign of blurry vision or any other vision problem, call Dr. Wilson or book an appointment online.
