Help With Aging Parents: The Truth About Cataracts
By Diane Vigue, RN, Resident Wellness Manager at The Osher Inn, assisted living at The Cedars
Did you know that 20.5 million older Americans have cataracts, one of the most curable causes of vision loss?
A cataract is clouding of the eye’s normally clear lens, blocking the passage of light needed for vision. Cataracts form slowly and cause no pain. Some stay small and hardly affect vision, but if one does grow and begin to affect your vision, it can usually be removed with surgery.
According to The American Academy of Opthamology, new techniques developed over the past decade have made cataract surgery one of the safest and most successful procedures available in terms of restoring quality of life to patients. Each year there are more than 1.6 million of these delicate eye surgeries performed in the United States.
There are no drugs or exercises that make a cataract disappear, and contrary to popular belief, cataracts are not removed using lasers. Lasers are used in follow-up procedures, if needed. Cataract surgery is often done as an outpatient procedure under local anesthesia. The cloudy natural lens can be replaced with an artificial lens to give the eye proper focusing power. In most cases, the improvement in the patient’s vision is profound.
So how do you know if you have a cataract? Some people notice a blurring in their vision, double vision in one eye or fading or yellowing of colors. When older patients mention sensitivity to glare or bright light or trouble driving at night, this may be caused by cataracts. Frequent changes to glasses or contact lens prescriptions, also warrants an evaluation for cataracts.
Cataract surgery, although quite safe, is still surgery. If cataracts aren’t yet affecting your quality of life, you may feel that surgery is not needed. The only person who can really decide when is time to have them removed is you, under the care of your doctor.