This information may be helpful to you if you think you may have cataracts, or if you have been told you are developing cataracts.
CATARACT is a word derived from Latin and means waterfall. It refers to clouding of the natural lens inside the eye. When cataracts are quite advanced the vision appears as if looking through a waterfall.
Cataract development mostly occurs as an age-related change and is a process that occurs in everyone eventually. Cataracts can progress at very different rates in different individuals however. In most people age-related cataracts start to develop in the mid-late 60’s with symptoms usually evident by 70 years of age. The average age to undergo cataract surgery in Australia is 76 years of age.
Cataracts can occur at a younger age as a result of trauma to the eye; in association with metabolic diseases such as diabetes; or as a genetically inherited family trait. The treatment is similar to age-related cataracts.
Early symptoms of cataracts include increased susceptibility to glare during the day, or increasing glare from lights at night. Difficulty driving at night is usually the first distinct symptom of cataract development. Later the clarity of both distance and near vision will start to decline. More light may be needed to read clearly. Eventually the vision may become dim with loss of the usual perception of colours. One of the other important ‘signs’ of cataract development is failure to see an improvement in the vision with a new set of glasses.
The visual changes of cataract development occur slowly over a number of years and in the early stages there can be a gradual adaptation, so symptoms are often overlooked. In about 2/3 of cases cataracts develop in both eyes at the same time, and in one eye before the other in about 1/3 of cases.
After consultation with your surgeon regarding your current visual status, your visual requirements, and other medical conditions a decision may be made to perform surgery to remove one or both of your cataracts. Further testing will be performed to measure the eye, in order to calculate the strength and design of the intraocular lens that will be used in your surgery. Corneal topography (mapping) will be performed if you have significant astigmatism that can be treated at the same time as the cataract extraction.
Cataract surgery is carried out as a day procedure. Intravenous sedation is given to reduce anxiety, and in most cases there will be no memory that the surgery has taken place. The operation takes only 15-20 minutes to perform. You will go home with a patch over the operated eye and will return for review by your surgeon the following morning. There is minimal discomfort associated with this very modern type of small-incision cataract surgery.