Cataracts & Blindness


Unlike the three previous vision ailments, cataracts do not affect the retina; instead, they develop on the lens, the part of the eye that focuses the light onto the retina. 

Stages of cataract growth

The lens becomes cloudy as protein clumps form a milky substance which slowly covers it in three stages: immature, mature, and hypermature cataracts.  In the beginning or immature stage, the eyesight may not be completely corrupted. The eye continues to have clear portions of the lens available so vision is still possible. Symptoms begin to occur such as blurry vision, halo-effects on lights, and sensitivity to bright lights.  Some eyes remain in the immature stage and never move into a mature stage. If the lens does develop a mature stage of cataracts, then the entire lens becomes opaque and sight is no longer possible.  Some people develop hypermature cataracts in which a liquefied milky surface leaks and causes irritation or swelling in the eye.

In some instances, cataracts only develop on one eye which is called unilateral cataracts.  When this happens, the brain receives clear images from one eye and fuzzy, diluted images from the other. To properly process what the eyes are seeing, the brain filters out information gained from the weak eye. If this continues for too long, then it can become difficult for the brain to relearn how to process the weak eye’s signals even after it has been surgically corrected. This is known as amblyopia or lazy eye.

Who is susceptible to cataracts?

Cataracts are generally associated with old age as they are most common in people over 60 and develop due to uncertain reasons associated with old age. Although this is the primary instance of cataracts, it is not restricted to the elderly and it can develop at any stage of life. Even infants can be born with a cataract film in their lens. When this occurs, it is called congenital cataracts. Babies inherit cataracts from a parent with a dominant cataracts gene.

How are cataracts treated?

Some people with cataracts have no symptoms or have manageable symptoms that can be aided with glasses or different lighting techniques. As the cataracts progress, however, the cataracts may get large enough to impede vision to a degree that low vision aides no longer help and surgery is necessary to restore vision. This is one of the most common surgeries and has a 95 per cent success rate. Cataract surgery involves the excising of the lens. An incision is made into the lens and a microscope is used to direct the surgeon. The cloudy lens is removed either completely in an intracapsular surgery or partially in an extracapsular surgery. Extracapsular surgeries are now more common because they leave the back half of the eye’s capsule, or lens covering, intact and only remove the top half. Once the cloudy lens is removed, it is then replaced by a fake lens placed into the eye permanently. This new lens is called an intraocular lens which can be made to correct short-sightedness but it will not correct far-sightedness and reading glasses may still be necessary.

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