Eye Clinic Tokyo has prepared content that will help you to understand various eye diseases.
This time, it’s about Cataract.
■Cataract
【Causes・Disease】
A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye. The lens works much like a camera lens, bending light and focusing light to produce a clear image. Normal lens is transparent and can transmit light well. However, once cataract occurs, the light that would normally be focused by the lens is scattered around because the cloudiness, so vision is no longer clear and sharp.
There are many reasons that may cause cataracts. The biggest risk factor for developing cataracts is aging. Early people start in their 40s,100% of people have cataracts in their 80s.
As the eyes age, protein and dead cells accumulate in the lens, forming a cataract and causing the lens to become cloudy which causes vision loss.
Other risk factors include: Congenital(present from birth or during early childhood), eye trauma, certain medications, radiation or other eye diseases.
【Symptoms】
The main symptoms are blurry vision, double vision dazzling. If the cataracts develop, the eyesight will decline and cannot be corrected with glasses.
【Treatment】
The most common treatment for cataracts is cataract surgery. If the cataract is at a very early stage, eye drops may delay the development. Surgery is the only cure for cataracts since the turbid lens cannot be restored to be transparent.
Cataract surgery involves removing the clouded lens and possibly replacing it with an artificial lens implant. The timing of surgery depends on the patients’ symptoms. If cataract leads to obvious vision decline and affects daily life, maybe it is time to consider surgery. Surgery may also be considered if the patients feel stressful because of the life quality decline and limits of interests that are caused by vision decline. For example, when patients feel it is difficult to drive, read or exercise.
Intraocular lenses can be divided into mono-focal intraocular lenses and multifocal intraocular lenses. Each type of lenses can also be divided into normal lenses and Toric lenses which can correct astigmatism.
Mono-focal intraocular lenses only have one focus, so the far vision and the near vision are different which means the glasses are necessary after the surgery. Multifocal intraocular lenses can focus on multiple distances, which makes it possible to live with naked eyes in most situations although glasses may be needed when the distance cannot be seen clearly.
【Summary】
When doing cataract surgery, it is very important for patients to choose the most suitable intraocular lenses. Understand the types and characteristics of intraocular lenses and choose the lenses which suit the lifestyle and expected vision. It is important to talk to the ophthalmologists and choose the most suitable lenses.