Can Cataract Be Cured?

Cataract is one of the most common problems that affects your vision, during the later stage of life. It is a clouding that develops on the lens that lies behind the iris and pupil. The clouding begins to develop on the lens when proteins in the eye form a lump, thereby blocking the images that form on the retina. Retina sends the signals to the optic nerve and thereafter to the brain, as a result we see the clear image of everything. Cataracts generally do not block your vision initially, but slowly start to blur your vision. There comes a point when cataracts start to worsen and even hamper your daily activities. It affects both the eyes but not at the same time.

Some medical studies have identified the factors that are related to cataract during later stages of life. Some of factors include:

• Ultraviolet rays

• Hypertension

• Diabetes

• Smoking

• Excessive use of corticosteroid medications

• Eye injury 

• Hormone replacement therapy

• Excessive alcohol consumption

• Myopia

• Family history

Prominent signs and symptoms of Cataract

Early diagnosis of cataract can save you from an impaired vision, thus it is important to understand the most notable signs that are caused due to cataract. The prominent symptoms of cataract are:

• Clouded and blurred vision

• Difficulty in seeing at night

• Sensitivity in eyes due to sharp lights

• Difficulty in reading in dim lights

• Observing faded and yellowness in colours

• Double vision in a single eye

Cure of Cataract

During the early stages of cataract, glasses with numbers can come to your rescue. But as the cataract starts to grow severe, surgery is the only cure. Cataract surgeries are by far the most safe and effective procedure, and can bring back your vision. Presently, there is no non-surgical procedure for curing cataracts. Certain studies claimed that some eye drops can slow down the progression of cataracts. It has been found that eyedrops can improve the lens transparency but no such trials have proved to completely cure cataract.

Cataract surgery is not a very long procedure and the healing process is also faster. However, since it is a surgical procedure, the risk of side-effects is always there. But there are no adverse effects and chances of chronic damage to your eyes is very low. Cataract surgery also has types depending upon the procedure your surgeon follows. Primarily, cataract surgery is done by making a small incision in cornea followed by another small incision in the capsule containing the lens. The lens is then broken using lasers or sound waves. The broken pieces are removed and a new lens is placed which is made up of silicone or plastic. The biological lens gets permanently removed and takes the place of your biological lens.

The whole surgical procedure may sound scary, but eye surgery has become a very common procedure these days. The surgery does not take much long and the whole process gets completed within 20 minutes after numbing your eye with anaesthesia. There are high chances of getting cataracts in both the eyes, and in cases where you need surgery in both the eyes, they are performed with one eye at a time.

 Cataract surgery is of the following types:

1. Small-incision surgery: Medically, this is also known as phacoemulsification. In this procedure, a small cut is made in the cornea and the ultrasound waves are used to break down the cloudy lens and replaced with an artificial one.

2. Large-incision surgery: This procedure is performed only in special cases where the cataracts are huge in size and the patient is suffering from a huge vision problem. Medically, this is also known as extracapsular cataract extraction. In this procedure, the lens is not broken down but rather taken out in a single piece and replaced with an artificial one. This surgery requires a little more time to heal.

3. Femtosecond laser surgery: In this procedure, a laser is used to break up the lens. This kind of procedure is performed on patients suffering from astigmatism, where a curve of the cornea makes your vision blurry.

Cataract surgery has a high success rate and studies have claimed that patients are able to see with a better vision, post- surgery. The recovery process is mostly smooth and within a few weeks, the patient can continue to do his routine activities. Surgeries involve risk, and some cases have been known to cause bleeding or infection in patients, but it is a rare sight.