Eye health changes as people get older. Naturally, the susceptibility to eye diseases and the need for eye care also change with age. As we age, different eye care practices may be needed to maintain visual acuities, such as magnifying or lighted reading glasses. The best way to have healthy eyes is to have regular eye care and ensure that you are going for an annual check-up. It would be prudent if you also looked for any changes in your eyesight, redness, or soreness around them.
Many eye diseases can occur in older adults, and it is necessary to watch out for them. Multiple eye diseases can affect young people and older people. These conditions may not always have noticeable symptoms, but they still need to be monitored and diagnosed in case they cause serious problems. Some of the most familiar ones are cataracts, glaucoma, dry eyes, retina issues and macular degeneration. Cataract can be early-onset or a by-product of old age, and many questions around eye disease are one of the prominent causes of blindness. Therefore, let us take a closer look at cataract and if they can be cured.
What is a Cataract?
Often called ‘cloudy eyes’ in layman’s terms, cataract formation is a condition when the eye’s lens changes from being clear to having a cloudy or milky appearance. The eye can be defined as a sensory organ that focuses light on a retina and produces vision. Cataract causes the eye’s lens to become cloudy, so light cannot focus on the retina, and vision becomes blurry. As we increase in age, our eyesight diminishes – where cataracts form and can lead to blindness. The clouding over the eye’s surface makes it difficult for light to pass through. Resultantly, people often see them as they age or due to medical problems.
Causes and Symptoms of Cataract
Cataract formation in the eyes is often caused by ageing or UV exposure. That is why wearing sunglasses outdoors is always advised to prevent early-onset cataracts. Cataracts are a common cause of poor eye health. This is because the disorder blocks the light from entering the lens of the eye, which can lead to blurry vision and, eventually, blindness.
Cataracts happen when there is an accumulation of proteins in the eye’s lens, leading to cloudiness, making you see things blurred or not at all. A cataract is most common in people who have diabetes or who have had radiation exposure.
Cataracts are the preliminary cause of blindness worldwide and increase in age-related visual impairment. Cataracts may be hereditary, but most cases are caused by ageing or injury to the retina. Symptoms of a cataract include blurred vision, reduced contrast sensitivity and glare problems, which may lead to difficulty driving at night or reading for prolonged periods.
How to Cure Cataracts?
Since cataract is a common cause of vision loss. With the advancement in medical technology, most people can afford cataract surgery and avoid blindness. The best way to prevent cataracts is to protect your eyes from injury and illness and look for signs of cataracts. The earlier it is detected, the easier it will be to treat and remove.
A cataract is a condition that affects around 50% of people over the age of 65 and it is a progressive condition that can lead to blindness if left untreated. Surgery is one way to fix this problem, but it may not be for everyone. The surgery is also not risk-free and can result in other health problems like increased risk for glaucoma or even death if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or lung disease.
There are many different methods for surgical removal of cataracts, including manual surgical extraction, laser surgery, phacoemulsification, extracapsular extraction (ECCE) and intravitreal injection.
With breakthrough treatments like laser surgery, it has become easier to cure your cataract without going through a painful, drawn-out process. But if you have already undergone surgery, it does not mean you cannot go back and fix your eyesight later. The latest cataract treatment without surgery is an outpatient procedure which requires anaesthesia for the patient. The main goal of this type of cataract treatment is to remove all or part of the cloudy lens to replace it with an artificial intraocular lens implant.
Cataract formation can be cured due to the medical advancements available to us, but it is important to prevent it by getting a yearly flu shot, not smoking, or drinking alcohol excessively, and getting enough sleep.