What is Cataract Awareness Month?
One organization wants Americans to know the facts of cataracts before things get too blurry.
This June is Cataract Awareness Month, according to the Ohio Division of Prevent Blindness.
What is a cataract?
In the country, cataracts are the leading cause of blindness, usually impacting people in later stages and women more often than men.
When you have a cataract, you’ll experience “a clouding of the eye’s lens that blocks or changes the passage of light into the eye,” according to the National Eye Institute.
You can get a cataract in one or both eyes. Still, it most likely won’t happen simultaneously in both eyes, Prevent Blindness said.
There are different variations of cataracts, including the most common, age-related, and congenital, traumatic, and secondary cataracts.
If you have one, you may notice:
- Blurred vision, double vision, ghost images, or the sense of a “film” over your eyes.
- Lights seem too dim for reading or close-up work; feel “dazzled” by strong light.
- Have to change eyeglass prescriptions often, and the change doesn’t seem to improve vision.
- You may also be able to see the cataract in your eye. It may look like a milky or yellowish spot in your pupil.
- Watch: Prevent Blindness president discusses cataract surgery with Dr. Albert Cheung, cataract, cornea, anterior segment specialist with Virginia Eye Consultants
What is cataract surgery?
“Unlike many of the other major eye diseases, such as glaucoma or diabetes-related eye disease, cataracts can be easily and painlessly treated by surgery to remove and replace the eye’s lens, restoring sight for most patients,” said Amy Pulles, President & CEO of the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness. “We urge patients to work with their eye doctor to understand their diagnosis and the best available treatment options.”
During surgery, doctors will remove the lens with the cataract and replace it with a type of intraocular lens (IOL), which is implanted in place of the natural lens, so that patients will have improved but natural-feeling vision.
The most common is a monofocal IOL, but multifocal and accommodative models are also used to correct vision at different distances.
A toric IOL is used for patients with astigmatism.
How to prevent cataracts, general damage to eyes
As you age, you are at greater risk of developing a cataract. There are several possible risk factors for cataracts, such as:
- Intense heat or long-term exposure to UV rays from the sun
- Certain diseases, such as diabetes and events before birth, such as German measles in the mother
- Inflammation in the eye
- Hereditary influences
- Long-term steroid use
- Eye injuries
- Eye diseases
- Smoking
Doctors recommend checking your eyes regularly to prevent cataracts, wearing sunglasses, and eating a healthy diet consisting of food with vitamins C and E.
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