Cataract Symptoms

Your eye works a lot like a camera. Light rays focus through your lens on the retina, a layer of light sensitive cells at the back of the eye. Similar to film, the retina allows the image to be "seen" by the brain. But as one ages, chemical changes occur in the lens that make it less transparent (cloudy) and prevent light rays from passing clearly through the lens. The loss of transparency may be so mild vision is hardly affected or so severe that no shapes or movements are seen, only light and dark. This cloudy lens is called a cataract. Glasses or contact lenses cannot sharpen your vision if a cataract is present.

A clouding of the lens (seen on the right) results in the symptoms of a cataract.

The typical symptom of cataract formation is a slow, progressive, and painless decrease in vision. Other changes include: blurring of vision; glare, particularly at night; frequent eyeglass prescription change; a decrease in color intensity; a yellowing of images; and in rare cases, double vision.

Blurry vision is a hallmark of cataracts.

Since the lens is opaque in a cataract, colors can frequently be muted (seen here on the right).

The most common cause of cataract is aging. Other causes include trauma, medications such as steroids, systemic diseases such as diabetes and prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light. Occasionally, babies are born with a cataract.

Ironically as the lens gets harder, farsighted or hyperopic people experience improved distance vision and are less dependent on glasses. However, nearsighted or myopic people become more nearsighted or myopic, causing distance vision to be worse. Some types of cataracts affect distance vision more than reading vision. Others affect reading vision more than distance vision.

Reducing the amount of ultraviolet light exposure by wearing a wide-brim hat and sunglasses may reduce your risk for developing a cataract but once developed there is no cure except to have the cataract surgically removed. Outpatient surgical procedures can remove the cataract through either a small incision (phacoemulsification) or a large incision (extracapsular extraction). The time to have the surgical procedure is when your vision is bad enough that it interferes with your lifestyle.

Cataract surgery is a very successful operation. One and a half million people have this procedure every year and greater than 95% have a successful result. As with any surgical procedure, complications can occur during or after surgery and some are severe enough to limit vision. But in most cases, vision, as well as quality of life, improves.