Our eyes work like a camera. When we look at an object, light rays reflect off that object and enter our eyes through the cornea. The lens behind the cornea focuses the rays onto the retina which communicates the impulses to the brain and the brain converts them into images. Seeing depends on this entire chain of events, but seeing clear depends largely on the lens. Developing cataracts, like grey hair, is a natural part of aging. A cataract is the clouding of the natural lens inside your eye. That lens can become so clouded that it prevents light and images from reaching the retina. There is nothing you can do to prevent a cataract.
The typical symptoms may include: blurred vision, dulling of colors, glare or halos around lights and especially at night.
Treating a cataract requires surgery to remove the old lens and replace it with a new artificial lens that can restore your vision and improve your quality of life.
Cataract surgery is one of the safest and most effective surgical procedures. The operation entails making a very tiny incision in the eye and inserting an instrument about the size of a pen tip to break up and remove the lens. Once the cloudy lens is removed, a cataract replacement lens or IOL is inserted through the same tiny incision and set into its permanent position.
Many people are surprised to find out how easy and pain-free cataract surgery is. The surgery usually takes about 15 minutes and most patients are back to their normal activities the very next day. Recent advances have been so significant that new-generation lenses could allow you to see well at all distances without the help of glasses, bifocals or reading glasses. Your doctor will determine if you are a candidate for these lenses.