What Are Cataracts?
A Cataract is painless clouding of the eye’s natural lens due to the damage of cells. Lens lies behind the iris and pupil. The cataract does not form on the eye but rather it forms within the eye. A cataract usually develops over a long period of time and thus is common in older people. They can gradually lead to blindness if left untreated.
Cataracts are classified into three types:
1. A nuclear cataract, forms in the nucleus, the centre of the lens and is due to natural aging changes.
2. A subcapsular cataract begins at the back of the lens. People with diabetes, retinitis pigmentosa, far sightedness or those taking higer doses of steroids may develop a subcapsular cataract.
3. A cortical cataract, forms in the lens cortex. Many diabetics develop cortical cataracts.
Cataract Symptoms and Signs:
The main symptom produced is generally only gradually progressive painless diminution of vision. You will notice the vision gets blurred and seems as if you are looking through a cloudy glass. Colors may not appear as bright as they used to be before. You may have double vision in one eye. Spots may appear in your vision.
Secondary Cataract:
It is slowly progressing disease, and usually affects both eyes. The secondary cataracts occur after the successful cataract surgery. This occurs after weeks, months, or more commonly in months. The treatment for secondary cataract is painless, quick, and highly effective. This requires laser treatment. Before treatment the pupil is dilated. For painless procedure one eye drop of anesthetic results and patient has to simply sit in front of the microscope.
Secondary cataract is classified into three:
Cornea disorders: Disorders affecting the cornea of the eye. It causes redness, pain, reduced vision, watery eyes.
Corneal dystrophies: A corneal dystrophy is a condition in which one or more parts of the cornea lose their normal clearness due to a buildup of cloudy material.
Eye conditions: The conditions affecting the eyes like eyelids, iris, pupil, lens, eyelashes and the sclera.
Signs and symptoms: Vision loss, eye pain, bulging of eye, altered eye movement, visual field loss, headache, double vision and many more.
Surgery:
For many years surgeon has used intraocular lenses. During cataract lens replacement the cloudy or discolored eye lens is removed and replaced with an Intra Ocular Lens (IOL) over the existing lens. In this surgery, long incision is done along the side of eye in which foldable IOL can be placed or a smaller incision for the foldable type.