The crystalline lens is a transparent lens located inside the eye that has the function of focusing images on the retina. When cataracts appear, it means that there has been an opacification of the crystalline lens, which decreases the patient’s visual capacity due to the decrease of the light rays that carry the images incident on the cornea. This vision becomes more diffuse the more opaque the crystalline lens is, which creates new colors and makes shapes appear less accurately.
Cataracts occur when there is a natural aging, however, there are congenital cataracts or cataracts derived from other pathologies such as diabetes or Down Syndrome.
Why do cataracts appear?
The crystalline lens is a biological lens formed by an elastic capsule and proteins in a soluble state. In the course of life, the structures of these proteins are modified and acquire an insoluble state that ends with the precipitation of the intracrystalline content, resulting in a loss of transparency and elasticity. In cases left to evolve, this can turn into cataracts with a degree of hardness and opacification that seriously compromise vision.
Sometimes the evolution of the cataract may coincide with changes in vision prescription. These changes in refraction can improve vision in certain circumstances in a transitory manner, that is, without any improvement in visual quality.
What are the risk factors?
Most adults over 70 years of age suffer from cataracts to a greater or lesser degree as a consequence of ocular aging. In addition, there are risk factors that can accelerate its onset, aggravate the disease or even complicate the intervention. Some of them are:
- Tobacco
- Diabetes
- Corticosteroids
- Ocular trauma
- Continuous exposure to ultraviolet light
Cataract treatments: ultrasonic microsurgery
The treatment for this pathology is surgery, which removes the opacified part of the crystalline lens and replaces it with an intraocular lens that occupies the empty space inside the crystalline lens. The power of this lens allows vision to be restored. This surgery is performed on an outpatient basis and lasts between 15 and 20 minutes. In addition, anesthesia is applied locally in the form of eye drops.
The surgery consists of making two micro-incisions in the edge of the cornea and removing the anterior face of the lens, which fragments the nucleus of the lens by means of ultrasonic waves emitted by a phacoemulsifier. The remaining fragments are aspirated and a lens is implanted when the lens has been emptied. Stitches are usually not necessary and recovery is very fast.
When cataract surgery is performed, there are several possibilities, depending on the visual result to be achieved. When the lens is monofocal, glasses are usually required after surgery. However, there are certain special lenses, with precision biometric calculations, with the use of certain formulas to choose the power of the right lens and with certain surgical maneuvers with which you can achieve visual results for which you do not have to depend on glasses, in this case we speak of phaco-refractive procedure.
With the help of the femtosecond laser it is possible to perform certain delicate maneuvers with total precision, in addition to finishing the intervention with an ultrasonic technique to remove the opacified lens fragments.