Cataracts

 

Cataracts can occur when the lens, a small transparent disc inside your eye, develops cloudy patches and over time these patches can become bigger causing blurry, misty vision and eventually blindness.

Stylised image of an eye overlaid with diagramatic sci-fi style graphics
Graphic showing a healthy eye, and an eye with a cataract

What are Cataracts?

Cataracts occur when the lens becomes cloudy or damaged, blocking and refracting light to the retina. This clouding occurs very gradually, over a considerable period of time, and therefore we may not even realise it is happening. It is also extremely common with more than half of those aged over 80 having cataracts.

We don’t wake up one day with cloudy lenses that were perfect the day before. Impairment develops very slowly and we may fail to notice how changed our eyesight has become. With getting older, the lens and its supporting muscles degrade and the wearing of glasses and contact lenses correct this loss for a time. However, eventually a surgical procedure may be necessary, as specs will no longer do the job.

Scientific medical illustration of cataract of human eye

Cataracts and Lens Replacement Surgery

Rosemary explains her remarkable experience of having her cataracts removed and lens replacement surgery. As a result of which, she no longer needs to wear glasses.