It is hard to know when you first develop cataracts; the symptoms generally don’t begin to appear until the cataracts have greatly progressed. For this reason, it is important that you visit your eye doctor for routine checkups of your vision. This will help you determine if and when cataracts develop.
Additionally, your eye doctor may be able to aid you in eye health to help belay the onset of cataracts. When cataract symptoms initially appear, stronger glasses, bifocals and lighting might aid sight.
However, eventually symptoms will likely progress to the point where these superficial aids will no longer help your vision. At this point, your vision will probably be impaired to the extent that it affects your day to day activities. This is when you should start to consider cataract surgery.
Cataract surgery is an easy procedure that can be performed quickly and virtually painlessly to give you back the vision that you have lost from your cataracts. Cataract surgery can also restore your vision to near perfect, even if you were near or farsighted before your cataracts developed.
Cataract surgery is performed on over three million people each year in the United States, making it the most popular surgical procedure. Generally, those people that undergo cataract surgery regain good vision, between 20/20 and 20/40.
During cataract surgery, your natural lens containing a cataract will be removed and replaced with an artificial lens. This artificial lens is called an IOL, which stands for intraocular lens. These IOLs are made of a flexible plastic material that blends naturally with your eye. They are generally clear, but there are new IOLs being created that block UV and blue light rays, light that may damage your eye.
Learn more about the technologies being developed with intraocular lenses by visiting the IOL technology page. For answers to your questions about cataracts and cataract surgery, please visit the common questions page.
Please contact us for more information regarding cataract treatment or to find an experienced cataract surgeon in your area.