Cataracts

Cataracts are an eye problem where the lens of the eye becomes all cloudy. Your eye has what is called a lens that is natural. This lens is behind the iris as well as the pupil. Your natural eyes lens is what makes your vision clear, which is attached to the retina. The retina is at the back of the eye. Your natural lens is capable of adjusting itself to allow good sight.

What is the lens made of? The eye lens consists of basically water and protein. Protein is fixed so that the lens are clear, This allows for the light to come in as it should. With the process of growing older, some of the protein can all bunch up together, making vision cloudy. When this process occurs, you have a cataract.

There are types of this eye problem. They are:

Cortical This type forms in the lens cortex. It will grow from the outside of the eye lens into the center.

Nuclear This type is formed within the nucleus. The process of natural aging is mostly how this cataract type happens.

Suncapsular The subcapsular type starts in the back of the eye lens. People at risk are those that are on steroid drugs, have diabetes, or people that have retinitis pigmentosa.

Symptomatology

This eye problem can start out very tiny, and is not noticed in your vision. As it grows though, vision will be disturbed. Your eyes will be overly sensitive to light, and therefore have trouble with nightly vision. You may also have a dimmer view of color.

What else brings on this eye defect?

The sun's brightness and light can harm the eye. This is why wearing sunglasses for protection is very important.

Smoking cigarettes can worsen the eyes as well as the air in general that is not clean and full of pollutants. Alcohol consumption can also increase chances of eye problems.

Treatments

When you notice that you have signs of this eye problem, glasses that are new may help, a magnifying lens, or maybe a pair of bifocals may do some good for awhile until surgery is needed.

When your eye problems progress as they often due with this very common problem, surgery is a good choice. This surgery type is very capable of helping to return vision to almost normal for some people.

In the process of surgery, your opthalmologist will take off the lens that is no longer good, and replace it with a new lens called an intraocular lens. There are new advances in intraocular lens all the time, making surgery very simple and helpful to patients. If you are getting what is called a presbyopia correcting intraocular lens, this will greatly help you have clearer vision at all angles. They now have other kinds of intraocular lens that can protect eyes from blue light rays as well as the ultraviolet ones.

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Improve Your Vision Clarity and Acuity With Cataract Surgery  Not rated yet
Author: Patricia Woloch When the light rays focus well on the retinal surface, we see clearly. When they focus a little in front of the retina, or ...