What is a cataract?

A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye or the surrounding fluid and can occur in one or both eyes. Mostly older people develop cataracts, but younger people can also get cataracts and, in rare cases, babies may be born with cataracts.

Cataracts are more common in people who smoke, drink excessive alcohol or are obese, who have a family history, who have diabetes or high blood pressure, have spent a lot of time in the sun without good eye protection, have had eye injuries or inflammation, or have taken certain medications, such as steroids.

Cataract symptoms

Cataracts can make your vision blurred or distorted, make you sensitive to glare, or give you the sense of seeing double. If you have cataracts, you may also have trouble reading, driving at night or seeing faces or other details clearly.

If you are experiencing some of these symptoms, or your vision isn’t what it used to be, it’s a good idea to make an appointment with an optometrist. Cataracts can usually be diagnosed by an eye examination. The optometrist will look at the appearance of your eye, will look at the retina, check for short sightedness and may examine your eye with a slit lamp, which shows the location and pattern of the cataract. If there is concerns regarding cataracts, an optometrist or GP may refer you to a ophthalmologist (an eye doctor) to consider further investigation and possibly surgery.

Sometimes an imaging procedure, such as a computed tomography (CT) scan magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan ultrasound, is used to look at the back of the eye.

Cataracts treatment

Glasses may help to improve vision in the early stages, but surgery is the only effective long-term treatment because cataracts get progressively worse in adults, although that may not be the case in some children.

Surgical treatment of cataracts is very safe and usually involves removing the clouded lens and replacing it with an artificial lens. The procedure generally only requires a local anaesthetic.

Some medications used for prostate problems in men can cause problems in cataract surgery. If you are seeing an ophthalmologist about cataracts and take medications for prostate problems make sure they are aware you are taking them.