Dealing With Cataracts: What To Do
A cataract is a clouding of the eyes’ clear lens—the clouding causes unclear vision, which affects your daily activities. People with cataracts find it challenging to read, drive, especially at night, among other things.
Developing a cataract may be a sign of aging, although it can also be caused by injuries in the eye, health conditions, and medications.
At first, a cataract does not affect your eyesight, for it develops slowly. However, the effect is manifested as time goes by. You need to seek specialists’ advice on how to take care of the condition.
Cataract Symptoms
If a cataract is developing in your eye, you might experience some of the following symptoms:
Blurred vision
Light sensitivity
Double vision in one eye
Difficulty vision at night
Frequent changes in your eyeglasses prescription
Quest for brighter light when reading
Faded colors
In the beginning, the cataract may affect a small part of the eye lens, causing unnoticeable vision problems. As the cataract enlarges, more lens is clouded, making it difficult for the light to pass through. This leads to more eye cataract symptoms.
Getting it Fixed
Cataracts hamper virtually all aspects of daily life. Fortunately, cataract surgery is very effective, fast, and virtually painless. Do not wait until you have a complete vision loss for you to undergo surgery. You may also require cataract surgery to treat eye conditions such as age-related changes in the retina or diabetic retinopathy.
Types of Surgery
Although we have different kinds of cataract surgeries, they have one thing in common: The surgeon removes the clouded lens before putting an artificial one. You may be scared to undergo the operation on a sensitive part like an eye, but it’s a common operation, and it’s not painful.
During the procedure, the doctor will administer local anesthesia to numb the eye. Although you’ll not be asleep, you will not see the procedure or fill anything.
The cataract operation takes less than an hour, and these days many are performed with a computer-guided laser, thereby incurring minimal invasive surgery, you might go home on the same day. If both eyes have a cataract, the surgeon will wait until the first eye recovers before the second operation.
Small-incision surgery (phacoemulsification)
In this kind of operation, the doctor makes a small opening on the cornea. A small device is inserted in the eye to produce waves (ultrasound) that break up the cloudy lens. The doctor takes out the pieces and replaces them with the new artificial lens.
Large-incision surgery (Extracapsular cataract extraction)
Large-incision surgery is done for the larger cataract that causes more vision problems. The doctor takes out the clouded lens in one piece and puts an artificial lens. Here, you will require more time to heal.
Femtosecond laser surgery
In this case, the surgeon will break up the lens using a laser. Just like other operations, they will replace them with the new artificial ones. This kind of surgery is done to patients with astigmatism (a cornea curve that makes vision blurry). The doctor can treat this problem during the operation using a laser to reshape the cornea.
What to Expect after cataract surgery
After the surgery, your eyes may be itchy, sore, or teary. You might experience challenges seeing well in bright light. However, the recovery period depends on the operation you undergo. Generally, you will regain a better vision in a few days. In about a week or two, you will start doing your daily activities with ease again.
Although it’s not common, you could develop infection or bleeding. Your retina can pull away from the tissue at the back of your eye; a case called the detached retina.
The surgeon will prescribe eye drops to prevent infections. During the recovery period, you are not supposed to drive. You should also avoid bending or lifting heavy objects to avoid putting a lot of pressure on the eyes.
Best Ways to Prevent Cataracts
Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness among U.S. citizens. There are no foolproof ways to prevent cataracts, but the following lifestyle changes might lower the chances of developing the condition:
Eating Healthy
Research indicates that eating food rich in vitamin C and E will prevent cataracts or slow their growth. Good sources of Vitamin C include citrus, tomatoes, kiwifruit, broccoli, potatoes, among others.
Food rich in Vitamin E includes sunflower, safflower, almonds, and peanuts. Eat plenty of green vegetables and fruits daily to decrease your chances of having cataracts.
Also, make the following changes to improve the health of your eyes:
Quit smoking
Wear shades
Limit Alcohol
Keep blood sugar under control
Regular eye check-up