In order for information from the outside world to reach the retina clearly, it is essential for the crystalline lens, which is a lens inside the eye that is responsible for making us see well both at a distance and up close. This process, which is performed automatically thousands of times throughout the day, suffers a depletion after the age of 40 in a phenomenon known as presbyopia or eyestrain.
Cataracts: why they occur and the types that exist
When the crystalline lens is no longer transparent, it is called a cataract. Cataracts can be congenital (fortunately very rare) or acquired. Although there are metabolic, immune, infectious diseases, secondary to the intake of drugs (corticoids, chemotherapy, etc.) that can cause cataracts, most of them are included in the group of senile cataracts, that is, opacifications of the crystalline lens that appear after 65 years of age and are not due to any specific cause but to a general aging of the individual. Therefore, we could say, without fear of exaggeration, that sooner or later the entire population suffers from this condition.
What can alert us of suffering a cataract?
In general, the onset of cataract is insidious and the patient is not aware of the problem because vision decreases slowly but progressively. Many times it is a fortuitous finding during a routine check-up with the ophthalmology specialist. Sometimes the patient simply suffers from night glare or a “veiling” sensation.
How to diagnose cataracts and the most appropriate treatment
The diagnosis of cataract is very simple for the ophthalmologist and, once established, the moment of surgery (the only possible treatment) must be evaluated according to the visual deficit that causes the patient, although at the present time, and given the low incidence of complications that this surgery produces, it is not necessary to wait until the cataract is very advanced or until the vision has diminished a lot.
Cataract surgery is the safest and most advanced surgical procedure in the field of Ophthalmology. It should be remembered that until the mid 70’s of the last century, cataract surgery required hospitalization and absolute rest for a week and the patient had to be equipped with glasses of about 13 diopters. Nowadays, cataract surgery is an outpatient procedure that does not require rest and in which an intraocular lens is implanted, making the use of glasses unnecessary (or almost unnecessary). This is possible because there are different models of intraocular lenses that allow us to cover the various types of refractive defects and, depending on them and the visual needs of our patients, we implant one or another model.
Thus, we currently have simple monofocal or toric lenses (for astigmatism) which are used for those people who do not want to wear glasses for distance but do not mind wearing glasses for near vision. On the other hand, we have multifocal lenses (with or without astigmatism) whose most important property is that the patient can see well at distance, near and intermediate distances.
With all this, the objective is to contribute to a better visual and life quality of our patients, by eliminating the dependence on glasses.