Cataracts are a disease that affects the eye causing a progressive, more or less rapid reduction of vision, which can lead to blindness.
I have been diagnosed with cataracts, what does it consist of?
It is the progressive opacification of the crystalline lens, the lens located in the eye, behind the iris, which allows focusing the luminous rays in the center of the retina.
What are the causes?
Age is the most frequent cause. Cataracts occur in 10% of people under 65 years of age, in 30% of people between 65 and 75 years of age, in 50% between 75 and 85 years of age and in 70% over 85 years of age. The normal aging process involves hardening and opacification of the lens. Age-related cataracts generally affect both eyes, but in different ways, with one eye being more affected than the other.
The following factors increase the risk of developing cataracts:
- Advanced age
- Diabetes
- Family history of cataracts
- Prolonged exposure to sunlight
- Smoking
- Obesity
- High blood pressure
- Previous injuries or inflammation of the eye
- If you have had any previous eye surgery
- Prolonged use of steroids, especially the combination of inhaled steroids and oral steroids.
What are the symptoms?
Cataracts are accompanied by quite characteristic visual symptoms:
- Blurred vision, most often at a distance.
- Myopia: people notice that they can read without putting on their presbyopia glasses.
- Diminished perception of colors and contrasts.
- Double vision in one eye
- Intolerance to light (photophobia) in the presence of intense lights, such as car headlights.
- The need to use brighter light for reading and other activities.
In general, cataracts are accompanied by a decrease in visual acuity, i.e., vision, and usually do not improve despite changing glasses. In addition, it can have direct consequences on daily activities such as loss of driving license. When cataracts are very advanced, the pupil becomes grayish or whitish.
What treatments are available?
The only possible treatment in ophthalmology is surgery. Eye drops have not been shown to be effective in reducing or slowing the development of cataracts. Some preventive measures may help delay the development of cataracts. For example, it is advisable to protect the eyes from the sun, to stop smoking and, in the case of diabetics, to control blood glucose levels more rigorously. Surgery consists of removing the opacified crystalline lens and replacing it with a lens. The most common procedure is called phacoemulsification.
After making a small incision at the edge of the cornea, a small instrument using high-frequency ultrasound is inserted, which breaks the center of the cloudy lens and carefully suctions it out. The surgeon will then replace it with an intraocular lens (IOL) made of plastic, silicone or acrylic. The new clear lens allows light to pass through the retina and focus properly. Basically, two types of lenses are implanted. With the monofocal lens we restore the transparency of the optics of the eye and we try to avoid the patient needing glasses for distance vision. In addition, many patients can be implanted with a multifocal lens so that they can see without glasses at all distances, far and near.
What are monofocal lenses for?
Monofocal lenses are intended to provide vision correction at a single distance, be it short, medium or long distance. Most people who choose monofocal IOLs do so to correct long distance vision and wear glasses for reading and other activities that require near vision. The person whose IOL is prescribed to correct near vision will need glasses to see distant objects clearly. Patients with astigmatism may require the implantation of a toric IOL to correct it.
What is the purpose of multifocal lenses?
They are intended to provide vision correction at various distances by reducing or eliminating the need for glasses. The multifocal lens features a design with a series of focal zones or rings and depending on where the light passing through the zones is concentrated, the patient may have the ability to see near and far objects clearly. The ability to read and perform other tasks without glasses varies from person to person, but is generally better when multifocal lenses are implanted in both eyes. The success in implanting these lenses, and therefore their indication, is different for each person, and depends on pupil size and other eye health factors.