Over fifty percent of people over the age of 60 suffer from cataracts. Almost everyone develops cataracts as they grow older. Cataract formations occur at different rates and can affect one or both eyes.
What is a cataract?
A cataract is a progressive clouding of the eye's natural lens. It interferes with light passing through the eye to the retina. Aging and other factors cause proteins in the eye's lens to clump together forming these cloudy areas. Early changes may not disturb vision, but over time cataracts typically result in blurred or fuzzy vision and sensitivity to light. People with progressed cataracts often say they feel as if they're looking through a waterfall or a piece of wax paper.
Symptoms of cataracts:
- Decreasing vision with age
- Blurred or double vision
- Seeing halos around bright lights
- Difficulty seeing at night
- Vision that worsens in sunlight
- Difficulty distinguishing colors
- Poor depth perception
- Frequent prescription changes for glasses
- Difficulty reading
Causes of cataracts:
- Age
- Eye trauma
- Heredity
- Diabetes
- Some medications including long-term use of oral steroids
- Ultraviolet radiation
- Smoking
- Glaucoma
- Certain metabolic conditions
Treating Cataracts:
Currently there is no medical treatment to reverse or prevent the development of cataracts. Once they form, the only way to achieve clear vision again is through cataract surgery.
Patients who are undergoing cateract treatment and who have nearsightedness or farsightedness can usually have these distortions corrected by a standard cataract procedure with implantation of a standard "monofocal" IOL and achieve good distance vision without glasses. Additionally, standard IOLs do not address the need for reading glasses that until now, most patients required following cataract surgery.
Cataract surgery with the Lifestyle Lenses refers to not only removing the cataract, but also performing additional procedures at the time of cataract surgery and/or replacing the cataract with an IOL that can reduce the dependence on glasses or bifocals.
For most cataract patients, life without reading glasses or bifocals is something they either experienced when they were very young or they just dreamed about for most of their lives. Now, surgical procedures and IOLs have taken a giant leap forward. No longer is the objective simply to correct your distance vision with a monofocal lens.
Today, the goal is to enhance your vision with Lifestyle Lenses that can provide you with decreased dependency on glasses or bifocals.
The vast majority of patients who chose Lifestyle Lenses report they can read a book, work on a computer, drive a car (day and night) and play golf or tennis with an increased freedom from glasses. Although learning you have a cataract can cause concern, once you understand how your vision may be improved, you may actually have reason to be excited.
The two conditions that Lifestyle Lenses address are astigmatism and presbyopia.
Presbyopia Correcting IOLs
Presbyopia is a condition that most people over the age of 40 experience that results in difficulty seeing up close without the aid of bifocals, trifocals, or reading glasses. This age-related condition is believed to be caused by a hardening of the lens inside the eye, making it difficult for the eye's muscles to change its focus.
Likewise, patients who undergo cataract surgery and who receive standard monofocal IOLs will realize "instant presbyopia" because these IOLs focus at only one distance. These patients will likely still need glasses for intermediate and near vision. However, by choosing cataract sugery with a presbyopia correcting IOL, patients will likely realize a marked decrease in dependency on glasses, contact, or bifocals at all distances.
If you are considering cataract surgery, you may be a candidate for a Lifestyle Lense to correct presbyopia, which can provide a full range of vision. This means that you can read and see clearly in the distance and everything in-between, with little or no dependence on bifocals, trifocals, or contact lenses. It's almost like having a bifocal or progressive lens inside your eye.
Astigmatic Correcting IOLs
Sometimes, the surface of the cornea is curved more like a football, with both flatter and steeper curves. When the surface of the cornea has an uneven curvature, vision becomes distorted. This common irregularity, called a corneal astigmatism, causes blurred or distorted vision because light rays are not focused at one spot to provide clear vision.
A person who has both a cataract and a corneal astigmatism will not regain high-quality distance vision after surgery to remove the cataract unless the astigmatism is also corrected.
There are several surgical options your surgeon may choose to treat astigmatism. However, if you are planning to have surgery to remove a cataract, you now have an additional option, an implantable lens that makes it possible to treat the cataract and correct the corneal astigmatism at the same time. Your surgeon will recommend the option that is best for you.
ReSTOR is a multifocal implant used for clear lens exchange in young patients or for lens replacement after cataract removal in older patients. This lens provides the patient a full range of vision correction, thus minimizing the dependence on glasses including reading glasses and bifocals.
To learn more about Lifestyle Lenses, please visit the links below.
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