One of the most common diseases of the organ of vision in the elderly, which is either partial or complete clouding of the lens of the eye, is a cataract of the eye. But it can occur not only in the elderly but even in infants because cataract causes and symptoms may vary.

The human lens is a transparent semi-solid avascular biological formation inside the eye, which is a convex lens that allows you to conduct, refract and focus light rays on the retina by changing its shape. The lens is located in front of the eye behind the iris and in front of the vitreous body.

With a loss of transparency (weak clouding) of the lens, a limited part of the light rays enter the eye, which leads to a fuzzy and blurry image, and with severe clouding and a significant loss of lens transparency, visual acuity decreases sharply.

Types of Cataract

According to the time of occurrence of cataracts, there are: congenital (hereditary) and acquired. Acquired cataracts are divided into senile (that is, age-related), traumatic, radiation, toxic, complicated (occurring with concomitant diseases of the organs of vision) and caused by general diseases of the body.

Cataract Causes and Symptoms

Causes of cataract

Clouding of the lens (cataract) can occur at any age and the factors that predispose to cataracts are quite extensive:

• body aging
• hereditary predisposition
• eye injuries (bruises, penetrating wounds)
• inflammatory eye diseases
• concomitant eye diseases (glaucoma, high myopia, etc.)
• chemical, ultraviolet, ionizing or radiation effects on the body
• endocrine diseases (diabetes mellitus, hypo-, hyperthyroidism, etc.)
• immune and metabolic disorders, etc.

Symptoms of a cataract

The main symptom of a cataract is blurred vision followed by a decrease in visual acuity. But the following symptoms may also occur:

deterioration in color vision

blurred vision at night

Stages of senile (age) cataract

With an initial cataract, the clouding of the eye lens appears along the periphery, and the optical zone is transparent.

Immature cataract – opacities begin to affect the optical zone. This leads to an already noticeable decrease in visual acuity.

Mature cataract – clouding occurs throughout the substance of the lens. Visual acuity is significantly reduced, only light perception can remain.

Overripe cataract – at this stage, the disintegration of the lens fibers occurs, the lens substance liquefies and the lens acquires a milky white tint.

All stages except “initial” need cataract surgery.

Cataract diagnostics

To establish the diagnosis of cataract, it is necessary to conduct a wide ophthalmological examination, including:

• determination of visual acuity
• measurement of the radii of curvature of the anterior surface of the cornea
• determination of the optical power of the eye
• determination of peripheral vision
• determination of intraocular pressure
• determination of the thickness of the lens, the length of the eye
• examination of the tissues of the eye
• eye examination

These research methods make it possible to diagnose the degree of cataract maturity, determine concomitant eye diseases, develop treatment tactics, allow calculate the strength of an artificial lens when replacing it, and determine the prognosis of visual functions in the early and long-term periods after treatment. 

Prevention and treatment of cataracts

To date, the issue of cataract prevention remains unresolved and causes a lot of controversies. It is possible to carry out prophylactic instillation into the eyes of drugs that improve metabolic processes and slow down the processes of clouding of the lens substance. Such drugs are prescribed only after a cataract surgeon. The only way to treat it is with surgery. The indication for it is a persistent decrease in visual acuity, which limits the ability to work, causing discomfort and reducing the quality of human life.

This operation is performed using an ultrasonic device, the tip of which is inserted into the anterior chamber of the eye through a micro-incision. After the cloudy lens is removed, an artificial lens is implanted through the same incision.

The advantages of the method are:

• painless procedure
• operation time less than half an hour
• local drip anesthesia
• no surgical sutures
• minimizing the risk of bleeding, inflammation due to a small incision

Thus, we can conclude that cataracts can be eliminated quite painlessly. The main thing is to carefully monitor your health and start treatment on time. No one is safe from cataracts, but if you regularly check your eyesight and contact professional surgeons, you can quickly get rid of them. And again to live a normal life without cataracts.