What are cataracts?
Cataracts are clouded parts of your eye’s lens. They become more common as you get older due to age-related changes in your eye. You may notice that something is amiss with your eyes when you get blurry or less vividly colored vision. Unlike certain other eye conditions that cause vision decline, you can remove cataracts with eye surgery.
You get cataracts because specific proteins in your eyes’ lenses break down and clump together over time. Those clumps result in the cloudy sections of the lens that interfere with your vision. Cataracts worsen over time and increasingly affect your vision.
Dr. Yakubov and the team at Elite Eye Care can detect cataracts during a dilated eye exam. They dilate your pupils with specialized eye drops before looking into your eyes to search for signs of disease.
What are the most common symptoms of cataracts?
Cataracts symptoms intensify over time as the condition progresses. You can go for a long time without any symptoms, which is one reason Dr. Yakubov and the team recommend getting regular eye exams at Elite Eye Care.
Symptoms like these, as well as general vision loss, can indicate many different eye conditions. That’s why you should visit Elite Eye Care at the first sign of any changes in your vision.
As your cataracts develop, symptoms can include:
Faded color
vision
- Poor night
vision
- Blurry
vision
- Halos around
lights
- Double
vision
- Sensitivity
to bright lights
How are cataracts treated?
Treating cataracts is possible and can help preserve or restore your clear vision. During the early stages of cataracts, Dr. Yakubov and the team encourage you to make small changes to improve your eyesight, like using brighter lights or investing in a magnifying glass for reading small print. They might also write you a new prescription for glasses or contacts.
Surgery is the only treatment that removes cataracts entirely. If your vision changes start to affect your ability to drive, read, or cause other day-to-day problems, surgery might be an option for you.
Dr. Yakubov and the team surgically remove your lens with cataracts and replace it with an artificial lens called an intraocular lens (IOL). The surgery is very safe and has a high rate of vision restoration.
Schedule your next eye exam to check for cataracts by calling the nearest Elite Eye Care office or book an appointment online today.