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AGE RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION

About Cataracts

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What are Cataracts?

Every time you look at something, light rays go into your eye via the pupil. The lens focuses the light onto the retina at the back of your eye. The retina is made up of a layer of light-sensitive cells. For the light to be focused properly, the lens has to be clear. If the lens is cloudy, this condition is called cataracts.

The risk of cataracts1 increases as you get older. 70% of people who are 75 years old have cataracts. As we age, our eye’s lens becomes thicker, losing flexibility and transparency. The lens is made from water and protein, and protein layers continue to grow on the lens. When protein builds up on the lens, clumps together, and hardens, the lens becomes cloudy.

Risk Factors of Cataracts

Aside from aging, there are other factors that increase your risk of getting cataracts:

  • Diabetes
  • Family history of cataracts
  • Prolonged exposure to sunlight
  • Smoking
  • Obesity
  • High blood pressure
  • Long-term steroid use, particularly a combination or oral and inhaled steroids
  • Previous injury to the eye
  • Previous swelling of the eye
  • Previous eye surgery

Symptoms of Cataracts

If you have cataracts, you may notice that your vision has become blurry, dim, or cloudy. Eventually, this change in your vision could interrupt your daily life. Since most cataracts develop with age, cataract symptoms are not always noticeable at first. Additional symptoms include:

  • Difficulty seeing in low light and at night
  • Sensitivity to light
  • Glare
  • Halos around lights
  • Colors that are faded or yellowed
  • Requiring brighter light for activities like reading
  • Frequent changes in eyeglass and contact lens prescriptions
  • Double vision

What to do if You Have Cataracts

  • Wear UV ray-blocking sunglasses and a hat when outdoors
  • Quit smoking
  • Use brighter lights for activities
  • Use a magnifying glass to help when reading
  • Limit how much you drive at night especially if night vision, glare and halos become a problem
  • Care for diabetes
  • Get an eye checkup to ensure you’re wearing the right eyeglasses or contact prescription

While some eyedrops claim to “dissolve” cataracts, this isn’t possible. Avoid any treatments that claim to fix or remove cataracts.

Additional Types of Cataracts

While rarer, there are three other types of cataracts2 that don’t occur due to the natural aging process:

  • Congenital or Developmental Cataracts occurs in infants and children. It could be hereditary or due to birth defects, but sometimes there’s no found cause.
  • Disease- or Medication-Relation Cataracts occurs due to eye disease; eye surgery; chronic disease, like diabetes; or extreme use of steroid medications.
  • Traumatic Cataracts occurs after an eye injury, either immediately of several months later.

Visiting an Ophthalmologist

If you think you might have cataracts, visit an ophthalmologist. An eye exam will determine if you have cataracts or another vision problem. At the age of 40, you should get your first cataracts exam, whether you suspect you have it or not. Early detection is the key to protecting your vision. Get checked every two years thereafter. After the age of 65, get checked annually for cataracts.

If your ophthalmologist determines that you do have cataracts, he’ll monitor your vision to see if it gets progressively worse. The only way to treat cataracts is through surgery, but many people find that their vision improves simply with a new eyeglass prescription. If the clouding is mild or is only on a small portion of your eye’s lens, you may not need surgery to improve your vision.

Treatment of a Subconjunctival Hemorrhage

Types of Eye Exams for Cataracts

There are a few different ways for an ophthalmologist to diagnosis cataracts:

  • During a Slit-Lamp Exam the ophthalmologist will exam the cornea, iris, lens and area between the iris and cornea in small sections using a microscope.
  • During a Retinal Exam the ophthalmologist will first dilate your pupils to help view the back of your eye. A slit lamp or an ophthalmoscope will be used to look for cataract signs as well as glaucoma and any other issues that could affect your retina or optic nerve.
  • During a Refraction and Visual Acuity Test, the doctor will test each eye for sharpness and clarity by having you view letters of different sizes.

Cataracts Surgery

Ophthalmologists often suggest cataract surgery for people with severely-affected lenses and whose vision loss is greatly affecting their day-to-day life. During cataract surgery, the eye’s natural, the clouded lens is removed and replaced with a clear, artificial lens implant – an intraocular lens or IOL. This surgery is an outpatient procedure and does not require an overnight stay in the hospital.

Before undergoing surgery, an A-scan is used to measure the length of your eye. Keratometry is a technique that’s used to measure the curve of your cornea. These measurements help your eye doctor to choose the right lens implant for your eye.

Phacoemulsification is the most common type of cataracts sugary. A small incision is made to the side of the cornea. An instrument that uses high-frequency ultrasound is inserted, breaking up the center of the lens and suctioning it out. Then, the IOL is inserted either behind or in front of the iris. The incision is closed, sometimes without the use of stitches.

Patients who have had vision correction surgery, like LASIK3, should provide their ophthalmologist with the vision correction prescription from before their surgery. This will help your doctor to figure out the right IOL prescription. You should also tell your doctor about any medications and nutritional supplements you’re taking.

After cataracts surgery, your eye doctor may prescribe antibiotic eye drops for two days to prevent infection. You’ll wear an eye shield immediately following surgery and then while you sleep for several nights. Avoid rubbing your eyes while you’re healing. For your first week of recovery, avoid any strenuous activity as well as getting dirt, dust, or water in your eye. It’s normal to have blurry vision for up to a few weeks after surgery.

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