What is a cataract?
Inside your eye is a natural clear crystalline lens that helps to focus the light coming into your eye. The lens creates images on the back of your eye (called the retina) like a camera focuses images on film. As people age, the lens can become less clear, even cloudy and eventually yellow-brown, thus making it difficult to see. Cataracts can also develop from eye injuries, systemic and ocular diseases or medications. Cataracts are not a film, growth, or a form of cancer. This cloudiness in the lens is called a cataract. Just as a dirty camera lens can spoil a picture, a cataract can prevent light from focusing clearly inside the eye. Typical signs of cataracts are blurred vision, glare, haloes, and sensitivity to light. For example, you may have trouble reading, watching TV, or driving at night or at dusk. Colors may seem less vivid. Objects may appear yellowed, and their colors washed out. It may be difficult to thread a needle, shave, or put on makeup. Other problems noted from patients include a near sighted shift in your glass prescription and double vision.
How can a cataract be treated?
A cataract may not need to be treated if your vision is only slightly blurry. Simply changing your eyeglass prescription may help improve your vision for a while. There are no medications, eye drops, exercises, or eyeglasses that will cause cataracts to disappear once they have formed. Surgery is the only way to remove a cataract. The time to have your cataracts removed is when the quality of your vision begins to put limits on your activities and enjoyment of life. If you have been told you need cataract surgery, yet you feel that your vision is still sufficient, you may want to obtain a second opinion.
How is surgery performed?
Unfortunately, cataracts cannot be prevented, but removing the cataract and replacing it with an artificial lens can restore your vision and in many ways, significantly improve your quality of life. Cataract surgery is performed at an outpatient surgical facility and usually requires just a few hours of your time from start to finish. After adequate sedation and topical anesthetics, a microsurgical technique called phacoemulsification, is used to breakup and remove the cataract through a small incision. After this, an intraocular lens is placed in the capsular bag and set into its permanent position.
What is expected after the procedure?
After the procedure, you will rest for a short while before you go home. Dr. Alexander will typically examine your eye within 24 hours. You will need to use prescription eye drops to guard against infection and help your eye heal. For a few days you will wear a protective shield, especially a night, to prevent you from rubbing your eye. Everyone heals somewhat differently, but most patients see well enough to return to most of their routine activities the day after surgery. Dr. Alexander requests that you do not bend and strain for several days.
Types of Intraocular Lenses
There are numerous types of intraocular lenses available. The most common type of IOL is the monocular IOL, giving vision to the eye at one particular distance, usually far away vision. This means that you should see well when you go to a ballgame or read distant signs. But you will probably need glasses for activities requiring near vision, such as reading a book or doing crafts. These lenses now are available with a yellow tint, the Acrysof Natural, to help prevent damage to the retina. This lens absorbs the damaging blue light before it enters the eye. Intraocular lenses also absorb damaging ultraviolet light rays. They are also available as an aspheric lens, the Acrysof IQ, which help improve the quality of night time vision.
For most patients, life without reading glasses or bifocals is something they either experienced before presbyopia or just dreamed about for most of their lives. But today, there are intraocular lenses that turn those dreams into reality. With revolutionary lens technology, intraocular lenses have been designed to allow patients to see clearly at all distances without bifocals or reading glasses. Two such multifocal lenses are the Acrysof Restor IOL and the Rezoom IOL. Of patients using multifocal IOLs, approximately 70-80% will not have to use glasses. They may allow you to go to the grocery store and see the aisle signs and labels on the shelves. A patient can play golf, see where the ball lands, and write down their score. Patients may also read a book, or work on the computer without the need for glasses.
As with any surgical procedure there are inherent risks, and your results cannot be guaranteed. Dr. Alexander will provide you with more detailed information about the potential risks and benefits to help you decide whether cataract surgery is warranted and which intraocular lens is best for you.
Benefits of Cataract Surgery
The results of cataract surgery can be quite astounding, providing a significant improvement in the quality of vision. One can also obtain substantially improved color vision, making many colors much more vivid. Patients may feel much more independent with their clear vision, allowing them to participate in more activities, and even drive again. Many experience an improved quality of life, from being able to better care for themselves to being able to see their mail, or interact better with their friends.