The only effective treatment for a cataract is surgery to remove the clouded lens and replace it with a clear lens implant. Cataracts can't be cured with medications, dietary supplements, exercise or optical devices.
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| How To Help Your Eyesight |
In the early stages of a cataract, when symptoms are mild, a good understanding of the condition and a willingness to adjust your lifestyle can help. You can try a few simple approaches to deal with symptoms:
- If you have eyeglasses or contact lenses, make sure they're the most accurate prescription possible.
- Use a magnifying glass to read.
- Improve the lighting in your home with more or brighter lamps, for example, those that can accommodate halogen lights or 100- to 150-watt incandescent bulbs. When you go outside during the day, wear sunglasses to reduce glare.
- Limit your night driving.
Cataract surgery is the most common surgery performed on Americans age 65 and older. More than 1.5 million cataract operations are performed each year. And this surgery is very successful in restoring vision - more than 95 percent of people who have a cataract removed end up with better vision. Many people report not only better vision but a reduction in the power of their lens prescription and improvements in the overall quality of their life after the operation.
When is the right time to have a cataract removed?
The decision to have cataract surgery is one that you and your eye doctor will make together. You'll probably have plenty of time to consider and discuss your options carefully. In most cases waiting until you're ready to have surgery won't harm your eye. You may not need cataract surgery for many years if at all. In younger people or those with diabetes, however, cataracts may develop more quickly.
Base your decision on your degree of vision loss and your ability to function in daily life. In general, surgery is recommended if the results of your visual acuity test are 20/50 or worse, even with eyeglasses, but this figure isn't set in stone. Think about how the cataract affects your daily life. Can you see to do your job or drive safely? Can you read or watch television in comfort? Is it difficult to cook, shop, do yardwork, climb stairs or take medications? How active are you? Does lack of vision affect your level of independence? Are you afraid you'll trip or fall or bump into something?
The answers to these questions are different for each person. An older person who isn't very active may have less need for sharp vision than a younger person who needs to drive a car and earn a living. Some people with only minor vision loss from a cataract might want surgery because of problems with glare or double vision. Sometimes a cataract should be removed even if it doesn't cause major problems with vision, for example, if it's preventing the treatment of another eye problem, such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy or retinal detachment.
If you have cataracts in both eyes and decide to have surgery, your ophthalmologist typically removes the cataract in one eye at a time. This allows time for the first eye to heal before the second eye is operated on.
An eye on history
Years ago having a cataract removed was an ordeal involving several days in the hospital, painful stitches in the eye and a recovery spent lying on your back with your head held in place with sandbags. Afterward you had to wear thick "Coke-bottle" eyeglasses. Luckily things have changed dramatically.
Modern surgical treatment of cataracts started with the development of the intraocular lens in 1949 by Dr. Harold Ridley, an English ophthalmologist. Dr. Ridley recalled the experience of eye doctors who had treated Royal Air Force pilots during World War II. Some pilots had bits of hard plastic lodged in their eye after their plane's cockpit shattered. To the doctors' surprise, these fragments didn't cause any serious problems in the pilots' eyes. With this in mind, Ridley began experimenting with making artificial lenses from plastic.
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| How To Help Your Eyesight |
Phacoemulsification was developed in the mid-1960s by American ophthalmologist Dr. Charles Kelman. Since then advances in surgical techniques and lens replacement have made cataract surgery one of the safest and most effective surgeries. The number of cataract surgeries done each year has increased phenomenally in the United States and Europe.
And what does the future hold? One area of research is the use of lasers in phacoemulsification. Other surgical techniques are being investigated, and researchers are also looking at ways to prevent cataract formation with drugs. To find out more, you can check out How To Help Your Eyesight.