What Is A Cataract?

The cataracts within the eye often changes in the lens of the eye. As people grow older the lens in the eye starts to change and can start to appear cloudy looking, this often happens and stops the process of the eye lens from being able to change shape or even to transmit the light properly. The cataracts may start to form between the ages of 50 and 60 years old and can often take a while to develop. If you are known to have diabetes then that also contributes to poor cataracts.

My inspiration for wanting to become an optometrist was jump-started by my aunt Rosemary. My aunt suffers from dry macular degeneration, and she first started losing her eyesight when I was about five years old. I have always been close to her, and I have seen her vision deteriorate. Today she can see peripherally. I have watched as she lost her driving privileges and was forced into an early retirement. I always viewed my aunt's condition without an appreciation of how lucky I truly was to have normal vision. However, In the summer of 2002 I visited an optometrist for the first time. Since that first visit to the optometrist 13 years ago, my eyesight has drastically deteriorated. I currently have a correction factor of -7.25 in my right eye, and a correction factor of -8.0 in my left eye. My vision has stabilized, but my high correction power, coupled with observing my aunt's macular degeneration, allowed me to understand that the gift of vision may not be an everlasting gift. I want to do my best to help people make the best of what may not be an enduring attribute of their lives.

Cataracts: As people age, proteins can gradually build up on the lens, causing a brownish or yellowish tint to the lens, blocking effective light transfer to the retina. Other things can cause the lens to lose it's clarity, include past eye surgery, injury or damage to the eye and chronic illnesses like diabetes. While more than 50% of Americans will either be living with a cataract or will have had surgery by the time they reach 80 years of age, even adults in their forties and fifties develop cataracts, and some babies are born with cataracts. Symptoms – cloudy vision, trouble driving at night, struggling to find a vision prescription that works well – gradually worsen over time. Surgery is currently the only therapeutic option.

Within this essay I will write about elderly patients, undergoing cataract surgery, as a particular vulnerable client group. The local Health Board (2014) define cataracts as the clouding of the lens, occurring as a natural part of the ageing process, preventing light from adequately reaching the retina and therefore having an effect on vision. This can be corrected through the surgical process of Phacoemulsification, through which the clouded portions of the lens are removed and replaced with an artificial implant (Local Health Board, 2014). Whilst it is common for cataracts to develop as a result of old age, they can also occur as the result of injury, inflammation, degenerative disease, or from the prolonged use of medication. It is also possible for children to be born with cataracts.

Cataracts: Cataracts are overcast territories that cover piece of or the whole lens inside the eye. In a solid eye, the lens is clear like a cam lens; light has no issue going through it to the back of the eye to the retina where pictures are handled. At the point when a cataract is introduce, the light can't traverse the lens as effortlessly and, therefore, vision can be disabled. Cataracts frequently shape gradually, without agony, redness, or tearing in the eye. Some stay little and don't adjust visual perception. On the off chance that they get to be huge or thick, cataracts can generally be uprooted by

Individuals are risk for cataracts are those affected with a disease such as diabetes, smoking or alcohol use, or prolonged sunlight exposure. Symptoms are cloudy or blurry vision, fading color, glare, poor night vision, double image in one eye, and frequent eyeglasses prescription changes. Treatment depends upon when cataract is detected. Early detection can be improved with eyeglasses, better lighting, glare sunglasses, or magnifying. If this does not work surgery is used. The lens is replaced with an artificial

The lens is responsible for focusing the light that passes into the eye and producing sharp, clear images on the retina, which is the light sensitive membrane in your eye that works like film in a camera. As people age, the lens in the eye becomes less transparent, less flexible and thicker. As cataracts continue to develop, the clouding in your eye becomes denser and covers a larger area of the lens. Cataracts cause the light to scatter and become blocked as it passes through the lens, which prevents images from being sharply defined by the retina, resulting in blurry

Or cause impairment to driving due to the lighting of the headlights from oncoming cars at night. Colors may not appear as bright as before. Depending on the type of Cataract you have depends on what type of symptoms will appear.

Cataracts are the most common cause of vision loss in people over 40 years and is the leading cause of blindness in the world. In fact, there are more cases of cataracts worldwide than glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy combined. Currently, cataracts affect more than 22 million Americans form 40 years of age or older. In addition, as the population of the United States ages, more than 30 million cataract cases are expected

Cataracts capable of producing amblyopia require surgery without unnecessary delay. In young children, amblyopia may develop as quickly as 1 week per age of life. Removal of Visually Significant congenital lens opacities during the first 4-6 weeks of life is necessary for optimal recovery of vision. In symmetric bilateral cases, the interval between operations on the first and second eyes should be no more than 1- 2 weeks. Acutely developing severe traumatic cataracts in children younger than 6 years should be removed within a few weeks of injury, if possible.

Some ophthalmologic diseases, such as astigmatism, strabismus and cataracts, can lead to loss in stereopsis (depth perception; result of having monocular vision), or loss in vision all together. As a result, the loss of binocular vision caused by certain ophthalmologic diseases might contribute/be responsible for changes in the abundance and functionality of ocular dominance columns.

If you have cataracts, you may be able to put up with cloudy vision for a few years, but eventually, you'll probably need surgery to remove the cataracts and improve your vision. That's because cataracts continue to grow and your vision gets progressively worse over the years. At some point, your vision may become so impaired you have difficulty driving at night, or you may increase your risk of falling. Cataract surgery is very common and it is a relatively safe procedure. It is even being done with lasers now, which lowers the risks further. Here are a few things to know about having your cataracts removed with a laser.

The rate of progression of cataracts is usually predictable and surgery is successful in restoring vision in a large majority of cases.

However, if your cataracts develop quickly, or they get so large that your poor vision affects your quality of life or makes it unsafe to drive, then cataract surgery might be the best option. During the surgery, the eye doctor removes your clouded lens and replaces it with an artificial lens so your vision is clear once again. Based on the results of your eye examination, your doctor can help you decide if surgery is the best option at the time, or if it is better to postpone

What is Cataracts if you may ask? A cataract is an eye disease in which the natural lens of the eye gradually degrades the visual quality. The natural lens sits behind the colorful part of the eye known as the iris in the area known as the pupil, which cannot be seen unless it becomes very cloudy. This is crucial, because the lens plays a significant role in focusing a light on the retina at the back of the eye. The retina turns light into a neurologic signal that the brains takes and then interprets it to be vision. What cataracts do is block the light passing through the lens therefore causing visual symptoms