What is a Cataract?

A cataract is a clouding of the eye's natural lens, which lies behind the iris and the pupil. It interferes with light passing through the eye to the retina. The lens works much like a camera lens, as it focuses light and images onto the retina at the back of the eye. The lens also adjusts the eye's focus, letting us see things clearly both up close and far away. Cataracts are usually caused by a change in the proteins of the eye, which causes discoloration or clouding of the lens. Over time cataracts typically result in blurred or fuzzy vision and sensitivity to light. Clinical researchers are gaining additional insights about what causes these specific types of proteins (crystallins) to cluster in abnormal ways to cause lens cloudiness and cataracts. One recent finding suggests that fragmented versions of these proteins bind with normal proteins, disrupting normal function.

Dim lights

People with progressed cataracts often describe the sensation as looking through a piece of wax paper. A cataract may make light from the sun or a lamp seem too bright, causing glare. Colors may not appear as bright as they once did, however, most cataracts develop so slowly that people usually don’t realize that their color vision has markedly deteriorated.

Oncoming headlights may cause uncomfortable glare at night, making driving more difficult and causing road signs to be unreadable until you're right on top of them. There is a myth that cataracts have to “ripen’, before they can be removed. This was true before about 1930, when the surgical technique to remove cataracts was quite primitive and the surgical outcome was essentially awful, even in uncomplicated cases. Patients essentially had to be blind from their cataract before surgery, so they could appreciate the poor vision that their very thick glasses provided afterward. With today's modern advanced surgical technologies, the average cataract patient usually sees better after surgery than his peers who may have a minimal cataract.

It's our belief that we wait until the patient finds that the cataract is interfering with his/her lifestyle. Patients have cataract surgery because they are having difficulty seeing the golf ball, reading their Bibles or the financial pages, or have difficulty driving at night. The most common response on the day after surgery is, “When can I have the other eye done?” followed by “Why did I wait so long?” or "I can't believe how vivid and clear colors are".

To schedule an appointment for a cataract consultation, Call Sarasota Ophthalmology at: 941-955-6363.