What are Cataracts?

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It is one of the main causes of chronic blindness in the world, mostly in the elderly.

Cataract occurs when the internal lens of the eye (crystalline) becomes progressively cloudy, preventing the passage of light to the back of the eye, affecting the person’s vision.

A person with a cataract in their eyes feels like they are looking through a foggy glass and it can be annoying. Their entire environment changes, the colors look more opaque, over time the details that we see on a daily basis are clouded to such a degree that the person only looks at shapes or detects movements.

More than 90 million people suffer from cataracts worldwide. Around 20 million people go blind and never have surgery due to lack of resources.

How can I develop a Cataract? Most cataracts are related to age progression. However, here we leave you the factors that most influence the development of a cataract.

  • Old age
  • Sun exposure.
  • Smoking
  • A blow to the eye.
  • High myopia.
  • Obesity.
  • Diabetes
  • Glaucoma
  • High alcohol consumption
  • Long-term use of corticosteroids

People with diabetes have a higher risk of developing cataracts and glaucoma, which is why it is very important that they follow the medical instructions that are related to blood sugar control and especially eating a good diet. It is important that the diabetic patient is evaluated every 6 months to keep the eye under observation and to be able to detect other diseases in time such as diabetic retinopathy.

What changes in your vision can you notice?

  • Cloudy vision
  • Double vision
  • Sensitivity to light
  • Low vision at night
  • Halos or flashes of light
  • See the colors that are normally bright, as muted or yellowish.

Treatment

Cataract surgery is considered once it has advanced enough, so much so that it affects your daily life.

Cataract surgery is the most practiced worldwide. It is an outpatient surgery that is performed under local anesthesia, which means that the patient is awake and conscious at all times without experiencing pain. The surgery consists of removing the natural lens of the eye and replacing it with an artificial intraocular lens, which will allow the adequate passage of light into the eye.

Your ophthalmologist must perform a series of examinations and evaluations on your eye to diagnose the cataract, measure its size, its density and see if it is suitable for surgery.

Cataract surgery is very successful worldwide, it is one of the most practiced and safest surgeries. However, it should be mentioned that any surgery, no matter how safe it is, has its risks and there may be complications during or after the procedure.

Nine out of ten people who have cataract surgery recover their vision with a very good level, between 20/20 and 20/40.

The surgery is expensive because of the ophthalmic equipment, the microscopes, and the high cost of the materials used.

Dr. Reichmann has a complete operating room with state-of-the-art equipment to perform cataract surgeries through phacoemulsification, the fastest and safest procedure to remove cataracts.

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