Cataract Treatment And How To Defeat It

Cataract Treatment And How To Defeat It

   A cataract is also called a cloudy lens which is the blurring or dimming of the normally clear lens of the eye.

The vision of people with cloudy lenses is like looking through a frosty window. At first, a cataract does not disturb your vision but eventually, it will interfere with your vision. At early stages, eyeglasses or more lighting can help with cloudy vision but at late stages (cloudy lenses ), you might need surgery.

Symptoms

Cataract has many symptoms like:

• Glare and light sensitivity
• Blurred vision
• Vision difficulty especially at night
• Seeing lights as halos
• Might need more light to see
• Faded colors
• Single eye double vision

At first, cataracts may only affect a small patch of your lens that you cannot notice any vision loss. As it grows and affects a larger patch of your lens, it starts to distort light passing through the lens which leads to noticeable effects.

Causes

There are many causes of eye cataract like:

• *Aging
• *Changes in eye lens tissue due to an injury
• *Maybe inherited as some genetic diseases which can lead to cataract
• *Long- termed steroid medications
• *Diabetes also can affect the eyes and cause cataract
• *Bygone eye surgery

Cataract forming

Iris is located in front of the eye lens where the cataract is formed.

As we know, the lens concentrate light that passes into your eyes to produce sharp images on the retina which is an alight sensitive membrane that works as a camera film.

Aging can cause changes in the lens nature like lens becomes thicker, less transparent and less flexible also can cause clumping or breaking down of lens tissue which causes cloudy lens.

As the cataract develops, eye clouding becomes denser and affects a bigger patch of the eye lens to (partially) prevent light from reaching the retina to produce blurred images.

A cataract may be more advanced in one eye than the other one producing vision differences between eyes.

Types of cataract

Cataract types include :

*Nuclear cataract: which affects the center of the lens.

 A nuclear cataract may at first cause short sight but then can make the lens more yellowish and make your vision cloudy.

The lenses of people with cataracts may turn brown. Advanced yellow or brown color of the lens can cause difficulty distinguishing between colors.

*Cortical cataract: unlike the nuclear cataract, cortical cataract affects the edges of the lens.

Cortical cataract appears at first as whitish patches on lens edges and extends to the lens center to distort the passing light.

*Posterior subcapsular cataract: which affects the back portion of the lens. The posterior subcapsular cataract appears as a small cloudy part near the lens back to make it hard to see even in bright light and cause halos around lights at night.

*congenital cataract: It is a type of cataract which you are born with. This type of cataract may be genetic or related to trauma or intrauterine infection.

There are many other causes of these cataracts as galactosemia, myotonic dystrophy or rubella.

Risk factors

Many factors make your eyes exposed to the risk of cataract which likes:

*Increased blood pressure

*Smoking

*Diabetes

*Aging

*Prolonged exposure to sunlight

*Long –termed use of corticosteroids

*Bygone eye surgery

*Previous eye injury

*Obesity

Prevention

There are several strategies to prevent cataract or slow its progression:

*Quit smoking: You can ask your doctor for help.

*Examine your eyes regularly: examining your eyes regularly can help you detect any eye abnormalities at early stages and treat them easily.

*Control any other health problems that can increase your risk of cataract.

*Follow a healthy diet containing fruits and vegetables which have many antioxidants that keep your eyes healthy.

*Wear sunglasses to prevent UV rays from reaching your eyes which contribute to cataract progression.

*Quit alcohols

Diagnosis

There are several tests that your doctor can conduct to decide whether you have a cataract or not like:

*Slit-lamp examination: This test enables your doctor to see your eye structure.

It is called slit-lamp because intense light is used in the test, the slit is used to illuminate the cornea, iris, and the lens to detect any small disorders.

*Visual acuity test: Eye charts are used in this test to determine how efficiently you can read some letters and symbols. One eye is tested a time while the other is totally covered.

After this test, your doctor determines whether you have 20/20 vision or not.

*Retinal examination: As a preparation for this test, your doctor puts drops in your eyes to dilate your pupils to make it easy to examine your retina.

The oculist examines your eyes with a special instrument called an ophthalmoscope.

Treatment

Only surgery can clear your vision if your glasses can not.

References

• Who is at risk for cataracts? American Academy of Ophthalmology. http://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/cataracts-risk. Accessed May 19, 2016. Cui YH, et al.
• Jacobs DS.Cataract in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed May 19, 2016.

• Cataract.American Optometric Association. http://www.aoa.org/patients-and-public/eye-and-vision-problems/glossary-of-eye-and-vision-conditions/cataract?sso=y. Accessed May 19, 2016.

• Longo DL, et al., eds. Disorders of the eye. In: Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 19th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Education; 2015. http://accessmedicine.com. Accessed May 19, 2016.
• Riordan-Eva P, et al. Lens. In: Vaughan & Asbury's General Ophthalmology. 18th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2011. http://www.accessmedicine.com. Accessed May 19, 2016. 
• Facts about cataracts. National Eye Institute. https://nei.nih.gov/health/cataract/cataract_facts. Accessed May 19, 2016.