CATARACTS ARE A LEADING CAUSE OF
BLINDNESS AMONG OLDER ADULTS
- Yet young people and even newborns can get cataracts
- The good news is that doctors can treat cataracts.
Surgery restores sight in more than 95% of cases treate
ARE THERE ANY RISK FACTOR FOR CATARACTS?
- The exact cause of cataracts is unknown, most often it is a part of getting older
- These factors may also play a role:
- Intense heat or long-term exposure to UV rays from the sun
- Certain diseases, such as diabetes
- Inflammation in the eye
- Events before birth, such as German measles in the mother
- Long-term steroid use
- Eye injuries
- Eye diseases
- Smoking
WHAT ARE CATARACTS?
- A cataract is a clouding of the eye’s lens
- Normally the lens is clear, it focuses light onto the retina at the back of the eye which sends images to the brain
- A cataract blocks light needed for sight
- Your vision may become blurry or dim because light can’t pass properly through the lens to the retina
- A cataract is not contagious
TREATMENTS
- Surgery is the only treatment, cataracts cannot be treated with medicines
- Eye drops or other drugs will not dissolve a cataract or slow it progress
- It is a delicate operation, yet it is one of the safest operations done today
- More than 95% of surgeries are successful
- Most people need surgery when the cataract causes enough vision loss to interfere with work, play or other day-to-day tasks
HOW CAN I TELL IF I HAVE A CATARACT?
- Cataract generally does not cause pain, redness or tears. However, these changes in your vision may be signs of cataract:
- Blurred vision, double vision, ghost images, the sense of a film over the eyes
- Lights seem too dim for reading or close-up work, or you are dazzled by strong light
- Changing eyeglass prescriptions often, but the change may not seem to help your vision
- You may sometimes notice the cataract in eye. It may look like a milky or yellowish spot in the pupil (the center of your eye is normally black)
- Problems seeing become more noticeable as cataracts develop
- A cataract may develop quickly over months or slowly over years
- Many people reach the point where surgery is necessary
HOW CATARACT SURGERY RESTORE SIGHT?
- Doctor uses a small suction tool to take out the vitreous jelly of the eye
- This operation removes blood and scar tissue in the vitreous as well
- Fluid is used to replace the vitreous
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