Cataract Description
What is a Cataract?
Before we can explain more about cataract surgery, it is important that you understand what a cataract is and what symptoms you may experience. Your eye is designed to focus light and provide a clear picture much like a camera. The lens inside of your eye, which is perfectly clear like glass when you were young, starts to become cloudy with age. A cloudy lens is known as a cataract. A common misconception is that a cataract is a film that develops over part of the eye structures. This is incorrect, as the cataract develops within the lens of the eye.
What are the symptoms of a Cataract?
As cataracts develop several vision symptoms may occur. Many of these symptoms are not noticed with early cataracts because the visual changes happen so slowly. Cataract symptoms include:
- Blurry vision both at distance and up close.
- Starbursts or halos around lights, mainly noticed at night.
- Worsening visual symptoms (glare) under certain lighting conditions such as oncoming headlights or direct sun.
- Difficulty seeing in rooms with dim illumination.
- Difficulty reading small print.
- Requiring more light to read.
- Frequent changes in your glasses prescription.
The time for you to consider cataract surgery is when you are feeling dissatisfied with your vision. Here are some common scenarios of symptoms that may lead you to consider cataract surgery:
- I feel unsafe driving because I can’t see the street signs until they are right in front of me, and at night I have difficulty seeing the lane markings and the median, especially when cars are coming towards me.
- I used to love to read but find that I spend less time reading now because of the effort required to see the small print.
- Everything just seems hazy and foggy, I keep taking off my glasses and cleaning them hoping this will improve my vision.
A common belief, based on older techniques for cataract surgery, is that the cataract must be "ripe" before it can be removed. With modern cataract surgery this is no longer true. A cataract should be removed when it is causing visual symptoms.
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