Cataracts - Clearing the cloudy vision

Sooner or later - but usually much later - it happens to almost all of us. Colors loose their punch, paling against what we remember them to be. The summer sky looses its brilliance, the panoramas darker than those in memory. All this could be caused because you have cataract. The lens in our eyes get progressively cloudy and opaque as we age - and this phenomenon is called cataract. Usually it happens during old age. But there is hope for even the most serious cataract patient. Now medical science has progressed so much that in a matter of weeks, the average patient can see as well as he could when he was young.

The Age Factor

The primary cause of cataracts is something we would all like to avoid but can't - getting older. Men and women in their fifties and older make up the vast majority of those seeking treatment - and the incidence increases enormously with age. Cataracts would appear in everyone if they lived long enough. But saying that cataract comes with age is like saying the sun causes light - it tells you nothing about the why of it all. The reality is that no one really knows precisely why we develop cataracts as we get older.

A lot of things can cause cataracts - trauma, infection, diabetes, measles. But doctors really don't know exactly why they develop with age.

Alternative Theories

A small body of evidence suggests that alcohol and tobacco use may be linked to earlier onset but not to cataract formation itself. One theory suggests that cataracts are caused in part by oxidation of the lenses caused by so-called free radicals. Beta-carotene, vitamins C and E and the minerals zinc and selenium are known antioxidants, so some doctors suggest taking a daily dosage.

The surgical solution

Now a days with the advancement of modern surgical techniques, one can remove cataract completely. In the most popular surgical procedure, an ophthalmologist will make a cut about 3 millimeters long in the surface of the eye. This incision is so small that sutures aren't normally required to close it; it heals well without them.

Your eye surgeon will then insert a device that uses ultrahigh frequency sound waves to literally liquefy the clouded lens within its capsule. The doctor then vacuum out the old lens and inserts a small plastic replacement - individually cut and ground to restore the focusing ability of a particular patient's eye. The typical patient has usable vision the very next day and can normally see quite well within a matter of one or two weeks. The procedure that is used today will restore excellent vision to about 95 % of all patients.