Are You Ready For Cataract Surgery?
May 31st, 2019
Getting prepared for cataract surgery can be a difficult experience. Not only are you likely dealing with foreign concepts, but your sight isn’t at its best.
The best way to fight fear is with information, and the best way to get information is by getting it from the source. Keep reading to find out more about cataracts and cataract surgery!
What are Cataracts?
The human eye has many different parts with unique functions. The retina is a thin light-sensitive tissue on the back of the interior wall of the eye. It detects light that passes through the pupil.
In front of the pupil is the cornea, which focuses most of the light that comes into contact with the eye. The lens, which is right behind the pupil, does the rest of the focusing and is where cataracts form.
A cataract is a lens that has become cloudy and distorted. This occurs when proteins inside of the lens clump together and build up over time.
When the lens becomes clouded, it will cause vision to become blurry and colors to become faded. You may even experience light sensitivity and double vision.
Cataracts are unavoidable. Their leading cause is age, as proteins inside of the eye begins to break down around the age of 40.
As your eyes get older, your chances of developing a cataract increases. If you have cataracts that don’t develop fully, you may never need cataract surgery at all!
How Does the Surgery Work?
Cataract surgery removes cataracts by removing the entire affected lens. The lens is first broken apart using phacoemulsification.
Then, the pieces of the cataract and lens are removed through an incision in the cornea. The lens is then replaced with an IOL, or intraocular lens.
What IOL Should I Choose?
IOLs come in all different kinds and differ in what they can do. Depending on the IOL you choose, you may have the best vision of your life! Some IOLs can even cut out your need to wear glasses!
The standard IOL is a monofocal IOL. Monofocal IOLs only correct your vision at one distance. As a result, you will still need glasses to compensate for seeing either near or far.
Multifocal IOLs focus at both near and far distances. A multifocal IOL is a premium IOL, but you will not need glasses with them.
Accommodating IOLs also focus at both near and far distances, but move inside of the eye like a natural lens. This makes switching between distances smoother. You may end up sacrificing some of your near vision.
Toric IOLs are the only IOL that can correct for astigmatism.
Aspheric IOLs are not uniformly shaped and reduce instances of visual aberrations. These visual aberrations can sometimes occur because of other IOLs.
Ready to find out if you need cataract surgery? Schedule a cataract screening at the Laser Eye Center in Decatur, AL today! You owe it to yourself to put the steps in motion to see the world clearly again!
