What is a cataract? The human eye has a structure similar to a camera lens called the lens. A clouding of the lens due to various causes is known as a cataract. There are various types of cataracts, including congenital, age-related, traumatic, metabolic, concurrent, and drug and toxic. Of these, senile cataract (also known as age-related cataract) is the most common type of cataract.
Patients with senile cataracts usually develop in both eyes, but the onset of the two eyes can be sequential or mild or severe. The main symptom of cataract is visual impairment, which can manifest as blurred vision, color changes in vision, double vision, and difficulty seeing in dark or bright light. Geriatric cataracts are the most common eye disease causing blindness worldwide. Epidemiological surveys have found that the prevalence of cataracts in people over the age of 60 is skyrocketing, and almost 100% of people over the age of 80 will get cataracts. Just as people’s hair turns gray when they get old, cataracts are also a manifestation of our body’s aging process, and as human life expectancy increases, the number of elderly cataracts is on the rise. At present, there are more than 60 million cataract patients in China, and 5 million of them are blinded by cataracts.
How to prevent cataract For many years, ophthalmologists all over the world have been exploring the pathogenesis of senile cataract, trying to reduce the occurrence of cataract from the source. Unfortunately, to date, the exact cause of senile cataracts is still unclear. However, one thing that is widely agreed by ophthalmologists is that high intensity UV radiation causes cataracts, which is the reason for the high incidence and early peak of cataracts in high altitude areas. Therefore, it is worth noting that reducing UV radiation to the eyes by means of sunshades, sun hats, sunglasses, etc. is a noteworthy cataract prevention measure. Other than this, other measures to prevent cataracts have not been proven to prevent or delay the occurrence of cataracts.
III. How to treat cataracts Lack of effective preventive measures for senile cataracts, so what should I do if I get cataracts? The visual function of most cataract patients will be affected only after they have had cataract for many years, and cataracts at this stage can be treated without treatment, and annual eye examinations are sufficient. This is because of a kind of “nuclear” senile cataract. In the initial stage of cataract, these patients can improve their vision by changing the prescription of their glasses. If the cataract has progressed to a certain level and the visual function has been affected, the cataract should be treated.
There is no “conservative” treatment for cataracts, and no medication, physical therapy or Chinese medicine has been proven to prevent, delay or treat cataracts. Surgery is the only treatment available for cataracts. Cataract surgery is one of the most performed surgeries in the world each year, and ultrasound emulsion surgery combined with IOL implantation is the dominant international surgical approach. The surgical method, technique and equipment are very mature, and the IOL implanted during the surgery is the most successful artificial organ in the world, so the surgical result is also satisfactory to most patients. Cataract surgery is an elective procedure, and the surgeon can successfully remove the cataract and implant an IOL from the time the cataract first occurs to the time it finally “matures,” and the choice of when to perform the surgery is up to the patient. The doctor’s usual recommendation is that if the patient has a complaint of visual impairment and the doctor believes that the cataract is affecting the patient’s vision through examination, cataract surgery can be performed if there are no contraindications to surgery. The previous view that “cataracts should be mature before surgery” is incorrect under the current surgical method, as “mature” cataracts make surgery more difficult and may lead to serious complications such as secondary glaucoma and allergic endophthalmitis. The IOL implanted in the eye is a “mature” cataract.
The IOLs implanted in the eye are optical lenses with different prescriptions like eyeglasses, and the corresponding IOLs can be implanted to correct the preoperative refractive error according to the preoperative measurements. For example, patients with high myopia can have cataract surgery to treat their myopia at the same time and remove their glasses after surgery. There are many different types of IOLs and prices vary widely. The view that “the more expensive the better” is not entirely correct, but should be selected individually according to each patient’s eye condition, refractive status and post-operative requirements.