Cataracts are a leading cause of vision issues for people over 40 and can result in a decreased quality of life as it affects your daily activities such as driving, watching TV, hiking, and golfing.
Cataracts are the result of the clouding of one’s natural lens. There are different kinds of cataracts, and they can have different causes. Aging, sun exposure, or other medical conditions can contribute to the development of cataracts in your eyes.
When you were born, you had a clear lens that allowed light to pass through without difficulty. With time, the lens becomes cloudy, which causes your vision to become blurry. Cataracts can start small and develop slowly. It may not even be noticeable at first, or you may notice a slight blur to your vision. For most people, the symptoms come on so gradually that you may not realize that your vision is blurry. You may notice things like you need to turn on really bright lights to read or you may not drive any more in certain conditions (such as at night) because you do not feel safe driving. Some of other symptoms cataracts can cause include double vision, seeing halos around lights, poor vision at night, or yellowish tinged vision. Others may notice a distortion in their vision or that their vision is blurry even with new glasses. Cataracts can continue to worsen, and you may only feel the effects once it is well developed.
There are many conditions or factors that can lead to cataracts. Regular eye exams and consultations with your optometrist are the best method of identifying cataracts. For early cataracts, new glasses with the appropriate glare protection may help. However, there will come a time when even new glasses do not make the vision clear. When conservative measures do not work, we recommend cataract surgery to restore your vision.
The surgery is an outpatient procedure (meaning you do not have to spend the night in the hospital) that will usually take about half a day. While the surgery is not very long, much of that time is spent making sure you are appropriately prepared for the surgery, you are comfortable during the surgery, and that you are safe to go home after the surgery.
During the procedure, we remove your natural lens and replace it with a new lens to provide you with the best possible vision you can achieve.
Lifestyle lens
During the pre-operative visit, we discuss your vision goals. Once we know what you want, we can talk to you about the appropriate lens.
We offer a wide variety of lenses to meet all vision goals. Our repertoire includes:
- Multifocal lenses – which can provide you with near and distance vision
- The allows you to do multiple things such as: going to a restaurant and read the menu without bringing your reading glasses or reading labels at the grocery store without
taking out your reading glasses.
- The allows you to do multiple things such as: going to a restaurant and read the menu without bringing your reading glasses or reading labels at the grocery store without
- Toric lenses – which can correct astigmatism
- Monofocal lenses – which can provide you with clear distance vision
We also offer femtosecond laser cataract surgery as well.
If you have any questions about cataract removal surgery or would like your cataracts examined, don’t hesitate to contact us today.