The tendency of cataracts to scatter light entering the lens can also cause double vision, especially if you're looking at a light source. Ghost images are similar to "seeing double." With double vision, however, you'll see two relatively clear images, whereas ghost images are fainter "copies" that appear on one side of or around the object you're looking at.
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Just as we are either right-handed or left-handed, we also have a dominant eye. Ghost images and double vision usually affect the dominant eye more than the weaker one.
Difficulty Seeing in Bright Light
In bright light the pupil becomes smaller, narrowing the pathway through which light enters the eye. A nuclear cataract located in that pathway is more likely to obstruct your vision when your pupils are constricted and the pathway is narrow.
Change in Color Vision
Age-related cataracts become grayish or yellowish as they thicken. Naturally, these tints affect your ability to distinguish colors. It's common for people with cataracts to report that colors look washed-out, faded, or yellowish.
Dealing with Early Cataract Symptoms
In cataracts' early stages, getting stronger glasses or contacts and using a magnifying glass, a page magnifier, or better lighting can help you see more clearly. The American Foundation for the Blind recommends the following light sources for people with cataracts:
- Sunlight - but use proper eye protection if outside, and use window treatments if inside. Wear a hat with a visor or ultraviolet-filtering sunglasses outdoors. Indoors, reduce glare by sitting with your back to the window and by using window tinting, lattices, adjustable blinds, or sheer curtains.
- Full-spectrum or warm fluorescent bulbs can produce strong light and have several advantages over incandescent lights: They don't burn as hot, they don't create shadows, they last longer, and they use less energy. Many stores that sell fluorescent bulbs take back the burned-out ones for proper disposal. Call your local recycling center for information on how to dispose of regular and compact fluorescent bulbs.
- Incandescent bulbs have few advantages, now that miniature fluorescents are available for lamps. Incandescents do emit steady, constant light, whereas fluorescent bulbs may flicker, especially when they are about to bum out, and the flickering might be bothersome for some people with cataracts. If you're buying incandescent bulbs, look for those labeled "full-spectrum," which simulate natural sunlight.
- Halogen bulbs are more energy efficient than incandescents, but they burn hotter. There is some evidence that the amount of blue light that halogen bulbs produce can be harmful to the eyes, and they pose slightly more fire danger than other bulbs.
Experiment with a mix of different types of bulbs to see what works best for you. Though cataracts are considered a normal consequence of aging, certain lifestyle, environmental, and health factors can cause cataracts to develop earlier - and in different parts of the lens - for some people than for others.
Causes and Risk Factors
Although it's true that aging is the number one risk factor for cataracts, we don't all age at the same rate. If you've taken good care of yourself, your chronological age, in years, might be somewhat higher than your biological age - measured by the condition of your muscles, brain, lungs, and sensory organs. So what we call aging is, in part, the cumulative effect of damage to the body caused by sun exposure, disease, environment, and a number of other factors.
A lifetime of good health habits probably won't prevent cataracts altogether. If you've been kind to your body, however, it's quite possible that cataracts will develop later and will be less extensive - confined to the nucleus, perhaps, rather than developing in the cortex or the subcapsular area, or both. On the other hand, people with high blood pressure or obesity tend to develop posterior subcapsular cataracts, and taking a thyroid hormone may contribute to cortical-cataract development. To find out more, you can check out How To Strengthen Eyesight Naturally.