Cataract symptoms include decreased vision at far or near, difficulty driving, frequent changes in the numbers on your eyeglass prescription.
The incidence of cataract disease, the most common cause of blindness and decreased vision in the world, is increasing with the rise of age. While cataracts are defined as an irreversible disorder, surgical applications come to the fore as the only treatment method.
Just behind the colored layer of the eye is a natural crystalline lens (lens). This lens is transparent and reduces the rays to the retinal nerve layer, allowing clear imagery to be created. For different reasons, the opacity and blurring of this lens leads to blurred and low vision. This condition is called cataracts.
Beware if the number of glasses changes frequently!
Age-related cataracts are mostly progressing gradually. Therefore, the patient may not feel any change in vision in the early stages. However, with the progression of cataracts, decreased vision, pale and yellowed color, difficulty driving, light sensitivity and ring vision around the lights, double vision in one eye, frequent changes in glasses or contact lens numbers, sometimes even patients who wear reading glasses suddenly need close glasses or start to see close by without glasses is very typical of cataracts.
The most common cause of vision decline
Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness and decreased vision in the world; the incidence of cataracts increases with increasing age. The prevalence of cataracts increases from 5% around the age of 65 to 50% at the age of 75. New cases of cataracts are occurring all over the world, reducing the number of 5-10 million visions every year. However, cataracts are not just an age-related developing disease.
Possible reasons of cataract:
Diabetes, hypertension, obesity, exposure to sunlight, radiation, prolonged use of cortisone medication, eye traumas, uveitis or having previously undergone eye surgery lead to cataracts being seen at an earlier age. In addition, congenital cataracts may be seen in infants. Some metabolic diseases, inbreeding, some diseases and infections in the womb, medication use during pregnancy can lead to this.
The only treatment method is surgery
Cataract diagnosis is made by the eye specialist by biomicroscopic examination. Nowadays, there are no medical treatment methods that will prevent or reverse the development of cataracts. The only treatment method of cataracts is surgery and cataract surgery is the most commonly applied method of ophthalmology.
Indication of cataract surgery is based on the patient’s age, vision requirement, lifestyle, activity level and patient’s complaint. In addition, there are medical indications of cataract surgery. For example, in the presence of congenital cataracts or secondary glaucoma due to the lens, the patient should have surgery as soon as possible.
Cataract surgery is performed under local anesthesia
Cataract surgery is performed under local anesthesia by facoemulsification method. The lens, which is blurred by this method, is absorbed simultaneously by ultrasonic vibrations by breaking it into small pieces. Then the intraocular lens is inserted. The patient is discharged on the same day and can return to his social life the next day.
Intraocular lenses are available in a variety of different types. After some preoperative measurements are made, considering the patient’s lifestyle and systemic diseases, it is decided which intraocular lens is more suitable by talking to the patient.
Lens types can be listed as follows:
- Monofocal intraocular lenses: Single-focus lenses. After the operation, the patient sees the far side clearly but has to use close glasses to see the relative.
- Bifocal lenses: Known as multifocal lenses. They allow you to see both far and near without glasses. But they don’t make the distance clear.
- Trifocal lenses: Popularly known as smart lenses. These lenses can provide a clear view of both the distance and the distance (computer, kitchen countertop distance).
- Toric intraocular lenses: Astigmatism are lenses that correct the refractive defect.
Social life can be returned the next day after surgery
The patient is discharged from the hospital on the same day and can return to his social life the next day. However, there are some issues that patients should pay attention to. It is important to use the drugs given by the ophthalmologist properly, not to have water in the eye for 10 days, to pay attention to hand and eye hygiene, not to lift heavy loads, to avoid bending, not to rub the eye.