It is important to know what a cataract is before one looks at the treatments for it. Our eye work like a living camera. The lens in the eye acts like a camera lens and in turn focuses the light on the retina and makes objects visible. With age and pressure on the eyes, the lens can get cloudy and make vision blurry and hazy. This phenomenon of the lens going cloudy and blurring vision is typical and in medical terms known as a cataract.
A cataract generally happens after a certain age. But it can also be attributed to various other factors. Below are the situations when the cataract formation may speed up:
- Diabetic patients
- Eye injury or inflammation
- Over usage of steroids
- Excessive smoking and a bad diet
- Exposure to radiation and too much natural sunlight
- Various eye infections
Symptoms of a Cataract
Most of us may not have perfect vision and it could also be due to an abnormal eyesight. For those with a cataract, the symptoms are:
- Deteriorating vision
- The lens looks cloudy and can be seen from outside
- Cataract formation affects the vision very slowly and painlessly but with the time vision gets worse
- With age there is loss of color problems, glare sensitivity, vision problems at night, and double vision
- Unnatural glows around lights
- Excessive redness or continuous watering
- Vision is not only impaired at night, but gets affected in broad daylight as well
Treatment for a Cataract
A cataract can be easily treated these days. In its early stages, power lenses can help correct the vision. However after 50, it is best to get your eyes checked by an ophthalmologist at regular intervals. It is rather easy to get a cataract operation done. With advancement in the field of micro surgery, a cataract can be operated and removed rather easily. One may not get 20/20 vision, but clarity can be restored to a point where one can see clearly and have the fuzziness and the blurriness removed.
