In the process of consultation and treatment, the patients’ poor knowledge of cataract prevention and treatment and many misconceptions in treatment have caused great concern to the medical staff, who reminded cataract patients that they must get out of the prevention and treatment misconceptions in order to see the light again as soon as possible.
Myth 1: Cataract is a normal manifestation of old age, and it does not matter whether it is treated or not. Cataract is indeed a common eye disease, and it is the main eye disease causing blindness. Under normal circumstances, the crystal behind the pupil is transparent. When it becomes cloudy, it is known as a cataract. Many people think that cataract is a normal manifestation of old age and it is unnecessary to cure it or not, this idea is wrong. The initial cloudiness of cataract really has little effect on vision, but if not treated early, it will gradually aggravate and cause complications such as secondary glaucoma in late stage, which can obviously affect vision or even blindness, and also increase the difficulty of surgery and post-operative complications.
Myth 2: Drugs can cure cataract There are many drugs for cataract treatment in pharmacies and hospitals, both domestic and imported. Some outpatient doctors also prescribe them to patients, and even indiscriminately prescribe expensive imported or domestic cataract treatment drugs. Other patients blindly believe in the propaganda of some false drugs, thinking that the drugs can cure cataract. This is really a misconception. A lot of clinical practice shows that cataracts cannot be cured by drugs. After using cataract drugs, the vision of cataract patients does not improve significantly. So far, surgery has been proven to be the most effective and the only way to treat cataracts.
Myth 3: Surgery is only available when you can’t see. In the process of consultation and treatment, we found that many cataract patients wait until their cataracts are mature and they can’t see their fingers before they go to the doctor for surgery. This is also a wrong concept, which can cause a lot of inconvenience and even irreparable damage to patients: some cataracts are combined with other eye diseases such as glaucoma, which can delay the treatment of other eye diseases while waiting; some patients wait too long and have difficulty taking care of themselves for a period of time before the surgery, requiring the care of their relatives and causing a lot of inconvenience to their families; cataracts are common in the elderly, so if the surgery is performed earlier, the patient’s body will be more resistant to the surgery. If the surgery is carried out earlier, the patient’s body can bear the surgery better, which is safer and conducive to the recovery after surgery; fully mature cataracts are less suitable for treatment by ultrasonic emulsification because the nucleus of the lens is too hard, and ultrasonic emulsification is the current advanced surgical method for treating cataracts.
At present, the treatment of cataract by ultrasonic emulsification technology is carried out more smoothly in economically developed cities. As long as the patient is diagnosed with cataract and feels that his or her vision has decreased and has affected normal work and life, surgery can be performed. Generally speaking, patients with cataracts whose vision is lower than 0.1 can consider surgery when their normal work and life are affected. Some patients with higher visual acuity requirements of 0.3 to 0.4 can also consider surgery.