Patient Information
Cataracts
Cataracts are the most common cause of blurred or cloudy vision in older adults and can be diagnosed, monitored & treated at Hills Eye Surgery.
What Causes Cataracts?
A Cataract can develop when protein builds up in the lens of your eye and makes it cloudy. This keeps light from passing through clearly and focussing on the retina. There are different types of Cataracts. These include:
- Age-related, caused by progressive opacification of the lens proteins in the crystalline lens.
- Congenital, where babies are born with Cataracts. They may be caused by infection, injury, or poor development in the womb.
- As a result of other medical conditions, like diabetes. They can also result from being around toxic substances, exposure to ultraviolet light, or radiation, or from taking medicines such as corticosteroids
- Traumatic, these form after an injury to the eye (blunt trauma or penetrating eye injury)
Other things that can increase the risk of getting cataracts include smoking and heavy drinking.
What Are the Symptoms of Cataracts?
Cataracts usually form and progress slowly. You may not know you have them until they start to block light. Then you might notice:
- Vision that’s cloudy, blurry, foggy, or filmy
- increasing short sightedness (in older people)
- Changes in the way you see colour
- Double Vision in the affected eye
- Problems driving at night (glare from oncoming headlights, for example)
- Problems with glare during the day
- frequent change in the prescription of your glasses
How Are Cataracts Diagnosed?
At Hills Eye Surgery a full comprehensive ocular examination will be conducted. This will include dilating your pupils to check the presence and/or status of a Cataract in the lens of your eye. Remember to bring your glasses or contacts to your appointment.
How are Cataracts Treated?
When the blurry vision from Cataracts starts to affect your ability to perform your daily activities, you may need cataract surgery.
This is done on an outpatient basis in a Day Surgery under local anaesthesia, under sterile conditions, meaning you’ll be able to go home the same day.
Cataract Surgery involves removing the natural lens in your eye that you are born with (which is now cloudy) & replacing it with an artificial lens implant. Cataracts can never re-occur after Cataract Surgery, as Cataracts can only form in the natural lens of your eye.
At Hills Eye Surgery, the presence of Cataracts will be confirmed & advice given on whether your Cataracts can just be monitored for now or if surgery is needed sooner rather than later.
Hills Eye Surgery has extensive experience in the detection & surgical removal of Cataracts as well as offering the full range of intraocular lenses like Toric and Multifocal lenses to patients.