Eye health: what you should know about cataracts

Cataracts are a clouding of your eye's lens, which affects almost everyone over age 65 to some degree. Here are the basics about cataracts that you should know regarding risk factors, symptoms and treatment options.

The effect of cataracts is a little like wearing glasses that need cleaning. In the early stages, most people can carry on without treatment and certain dietary changes and vitamin supplements can delay cataract formation. Some cataracts may never become severe enough to need surgery, but it is reassuring to know that if they do, there is a simple operation that really works.

You may be wondering: what are the risk factors for cataracts and how can they be minimized? As in other areas of life, there are some risk factors for cataracts that you can't change and others that you can.

• Those you can't change include being female and having brown eyes.
• Those that you can do something about include a poor diet and smoking.
• There are also other factors that you and your doctor might be able to influence, such as having high cholesterol levels or diabetes, and taking certain medications, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and steroids, including inhaled steroids used for asthma.
• Sunlight exposure used to be regarded as a risk factor, but recently this link has been questioned.

Cataract symptoms develop gradually and are painless, so you are unlikely to notice them at first. But if any of the following statements apply to you, you should see your optometrist:

• The clarity of your sight is deteriorating gradually (over a period of years) and both eyes are affected, though not necessarily at the same rate.
• You are increasingly sensitive to bright lights and glare.
• You see halos around bright lights.
• There are darker patches gradually developing in your field of vision.
• There's a brownish-yellow tint to your sight.
• Your perception of colour is not as good as it was.
• You get double vision in one eye.

About one in five people over 65 and two-thirds of those over 85 develop full-blown cataracts, affecting most of the lens and interfering with vision.

• Early symptoms may improve with a change in glasses or lens prescription, but in the end, surgery to remove the cloudy lens and replace it with a clear artificial one is the answer, restoring clear vision and the ability to see vibrant colours. It's usually done under local anaesthesia.
• A cataract should be removed as soon as it starts to affect everyday activities such as reading or driving. As a rule, the surgeon operates on one eye first, allowing it to recover before the other is treated.

Phacoemulsification

The most common surgical procedure for treating cataracts is called phacoemulsification.

• Ultrasound energy is used to break up your own lens, which is then removed through a small incision and replaced with an artificial lens. It takes about 20 minutes.
• After the operation you'll need to wear an eye pad for the first few hours. You will be able to see once it is removed, though it may take several weeks for your vision to stabilize completely.
• Your surgeon will give you eye drops to help prevent infection and reduce any inflammation you may experience after the operation.
• The latest cataract surgery technology can reduce the size of the incision needed to extract a patient's cloudy lens to little more than the size of a period. A machine called a Stellaris guides the surgeon making the cut, increasing precision and enabling micro-incision cataract surgery through a very tiny hole just 1.8 millimetres across.
• As well as increasing comfort for patients, the tiny wound is self-healing – reducing the risk of infection and focusing problems after the operation – and patients don't need an eye patch.

As with so many health issues, it pays to be proactive. So if you have questions or concerns about cataracts, schedule an appointment with your optometrist today!