What Is A Cataract
The lens inside the eye can become cloudy and hard, a condition known as cataract. It is part of the aging process and is due to the physical and mechanical changes taking place in the lens. The cause is age-related but it can also occur after an injury or trauma and when a patient has uncontrolled systemic conditions like diabetes mellitus. There is also a small portion of newborn babies that can have cataracts.
Effect of Cataracts on the Natural Lens of the Eyes
The lens is the one responsible for accommodation (focusing power of the eye). When a cataract is developing, this focusing power is also affected. As a person ages, the lens slowly becomes thicker, increasingly becomes less flexible and gets harder. These changes not only affects the focusing aspect of the eye but it also diffuses and scatters the light or images that enter the eye. This causes vision to be blurred or blocked like a mist covering the windshield of your car
Symptoms
The very first sign of a cataract is progressive blurring of vision that cannot be improved by glasses. Other symptoms of cataracts include:
Cloudy, fuzzy, foggy or filmy vision
Poor vision on bright light
Changes in the way you see colors
Seeing double on one or both eyes
Seeing halos specially at night when driving
Sometimes there is improvement of near vision during cataract ( we call this second sight) – but this will eventually deteriorate once the cataract continues to harden
Frequent changes in eyeglass prescription
