CATARACTS

Cataracts obscure the eye’s natural lens and limit your
ability to see details. The lens, a light-sensitive membrane in your eye, works
like the lens in a camera. Just as a foggy camera lens makes everything dim, a
cataract makes it hard for you to see clearly.

Cataracts can develop from normal aging, from an eye
injury, from previous eye surgery or if you have taken certain medications.
Cataracts may cause blurred vision, dulled vision, sensitivity to light and
glare, and/or ghost images. If the cataract changes vision so much that it
interferes with your daily life, the cataract may need to be removed. Surgery
is the only way to remove a cataract. The alternative to surgery is to not have
the cataract removed. If you do not have the surgery, your vision probably will
not improve and may continue to get worse.

You are
more likely to develop cataracts if you have any of these risk factors:

• Too
  much sunlight exposure
• Smoking
• Cortisone
  use
• Diabetes
• High
  blood pressure
• Excessive
  alcohol consumption

Common
Cataract Symptoms

• Clouded,
  blurred or dim vision
• Impaired
  night vision or glare
• Sensitivity
  to light and glare
• Need
  brighter light for reading and other activities
• Seeing
  “halos” around lights
• Frequent
  changes in eyeglass or contact lens prescriptions
• Fading
  or yellowing of colours
• Double
  vision in a single eye

What are
the different types of cataracts?  

• Age-related
  cataract: Most cataracts are related to aging.
• Congenital cataract: Some
  babies are born with cataracts or develop them in childhood, often in both
  eyes. These cataracts may not affect vision. If they do, they may need to
  be removed.
• Secondary
  cataract: Cataracts are more likely to develop in people who have
  certain other health problems, such as diabetes. Also, cataracts are
  sometimes linked to corticosteroid use.
• Traumatic
  cataract: Cataracts can develop soon after an eye injury, or
  years later.

Tests

During a comprehensive eye exam, our ophthalmologists
quickly and accurately determine your diagnosis. If needed, this is confirmed
using one or more of the following tests or procedures:

Visual Acuity Tests – These tests help determine
if your vision is impaired.

Slit Lamp Exams – By giving your doctor a
magnified three-dimensional (3-D) view of your eye, this diagnostic tool makes
it easier to find tiny abnormalities.

Retinal Exams – While examining your retina,
your doctor checks your lens for signs of cloudiness.

Treatments

Cataract Extraction Surgery – Surgical removal
of a clouded lens is considered the best, most successful treatment for this
condition. Bascom Palmer doctors participated in the development of the femtosecond
cataract laser which can be used just before surgery to soften the
cataract and reduce astigmatism.  The surgery is performed through a small
opening at the front of the eye. The surgeon gently breaks up and vacuums out
the clouded cataractous lens with high frequency ultrasound. This lens is then
replaced with a new artificial lens, called intraocular lens
(IOL).  If you have significant astigmatism, your surgeon may
correct it with a Toric IOL or another procedure such as LASIK or a
limbal relaxing incision (LRI) to reshape your cornea. Your doctor will guide
you in choosing the intraocular lens that is right for you, depending on your
condition and preferences.

Lens
options include

Monofocal Fixed Focus Intraocular Lenses –
Whether surgery is done to remove cataracts or to correct refractive error, the
lens that was removed is replaced with an IOL that is positioned in the same
place as the natural lens. The power of the lens is selected to create a focus
at distance, intermediate distance or at near for reading. Various replacement
lenses are available. The standard IOL is a monofocal lens that
corrects distance vision. With this lens, you see well from a distance, but
need glasses to read. Alternatively, a person may choose to focus the eye at an
intermediate distance or at a reading distance. Some people may choose to have
one eye focused at distance and the other focused at near for reading. This is
called “monovision.”

Accommodating Intraocular Lenses – Alternatives
to standard monofocal lenses, these accommodating lenses provide distance and
some near vision. An “accommodating” intraocular lens gives good distance
vision and usable intermediate distance vision for a computer screen. Most
people can also read large type without glasses but some need reading glasses
to read small type.

Toric IOLs – These fixed focus single-vision
lenses help people with astigmatism see better for distance or for near vision
than they would with a non-Toric single vision IOL. Although Toric lenses
improve visual sharpness at a distance or near without glasses, they do not
provide both near and distance vision simultaneously.

Multifocal IOLs – Multifocal lenses provide distance
and intermediate and/or reading vision. The optical results are not always
perfect and some patients are bothered by subnormal distance and/or reading
vision. Other common side effects include halos around lights at night and
reduced vision in bright or dim light.