Cataracts are an age-related eye condition where the eye’s clear lens becomes unclear and causes someone’s vision to be poor. This slow clouding detracts from the quality of life and ability to function in everyday life. To maintain optimal vision, it is important to understand when to get cataract surgery.

Here are more details about the symptoms that indicate the need for cataract surgery and when to consider having the procedure done:

• Blurred or Cloudy Vision : One of the biggest signs of cataracts is slow progressive blurring or clouding of vision. Most individuals with cataracts say they have a view as if through a foggy or dirty lens. That could be a problem in reading, driving, and seeing people’s faces. If you find your vision not quite what it used to be, and if corrective eyeglasses or contact lenses are not improving your sight, it may be time to consider cataract surgery.
• Glare Sensitivity: This could cause severe glare, particularly under night driving conditions. Patients may find the headlights, streetlights, or the sun to be glaring, or even to the point of getting irritating, as light scatters around that cloudy lens. Night driving becomes a treacherous, irksome task since there is an overwhelming increase in sensitivity to glare. If you notice glare impacting your visual ability for everyday tasks or to drive safely, it’s maybe just the point of considering cataract surgery.
• Low-Light Struggle: People with cataracts often experience difficulty seeing during dim light, for example at dawn and when engaging in indoor activities in dim lighting. Some common examples include difficulty seeing while reading or sewing and moving around freely in a dim light space. If you need bright lights or have difficulty seeing where you had no trouble earlier under certain conditions, then it’s time to evaluate how this cataract impacts your vision.
• Frequent Changes in Your Glasses Prescription: Some of the most common symptoms of how cataracts can affect your vision include a need for a change of glasses or contact lens prescription most of the time. As cataracts worsen, the lens cloudiness affects the refraction of light, so one may need a change of glasses most of the time. If you find that the state of your eyes keeps on changing most of the time, even with the frequent changes in lenses, then this could be a sign that you need to undergo an operation for cataract surgery.
• Daily Activity Challenges: As noted already, the emergence of cataracts is an indication of significant disability. Everyday activities can become very challenging like reading, cooking, shopping, and watching TV, to mention a few.
• Seeing Double Vision in One Eye: This could result from possessing a cataract. When the lens becomes clouded, it scatters light in different directions and makes double vision that overlaps, causing you to see objects in double vision. In this case, you require a cataract operation.
• Fading or Yellowing of Colors: Cataracts can affect color perception and cause them to seem faded or yellow. This is because the clouded lens can filter out certain wavelengths of light, which can alter how colors appear. If you notice that the ability to make distinctions between colors seems faded than what it used to be, it may be time to assess cataract surgery.
• Effect on Quality of Life: It is primarily dependent on the patient with cataracts. If your visions have created hindrances in performing your hobbies independently and impair the life quality, you should consult your concerns with the cataract surgery specialist.

When to get Cataract Surgery?

Consultation with an Eye Care Professional

Routine eye examinations are vital to the early diagnosis of cataracts, as they identify how they affect your eyes and how progressively they are doing so. Your doctor usually determines how a cataract impacts your vision by utilizing cataract-diagnosing tools and measurements and whether it is time to undergo surgery. They conduct a thorough eye examination and ensure that surgery is only advised at the most appropriate time.

Cataract surgery can be considered when vision is substantially affected by cataracts and is causing an overall negative impact on the life of an affected individual. For most people, when applying the guideline of the degree of vision loss due to cataracts and associated activity limitations are significant, the question of whether to have surgery becomes very straightforward. The other accepted fact is that cataract surgery is highly safe and effective and its success rate is high. It consists of the cloudy lens extraction and replacing it with a clear synthetic lens, resulting in clear vision.

Conclusion

Understanding makes a difference in protecting your vision and quality of life also what you need to pay attention to for cataract surgery. Usually, however, one should consider complaints like blurred vision, increased sensitivity to glare, difficulty in dim light, being always with prescription glasses, and problems with daily activities. If you are experiencing any signs of cataracts, you should take a comprehensive examination, and consultation about cataract surgery by a well-trained eye care professional. The average cost of cataract operation in India is 60,000. Early intervention and cataract surgery could yield much improvement in vision and well-being, with the prospect of continuing to lead life to the fullest.

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Written and Verified by:

DR. PRASHANT KUMAR

MBBS, MS (OPHTHAL)

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