Cataracts and Cataract Surgery
Did you know that 20.5 million Americans age 40 and older have cataracts, one of the most curable causes of vision loss? So how do you know if you have a cataract? "Some people notice a gradual painless blurring of vision, double vision in one eye or fading or yellowing of colors. When older patients mention sensitivity to glare and/or bright light or trouble driving at night, this may be caused by cataracts." said Dr. Jake Bostrom, an ophthalmologist at Southern Eye Associates. A cataract is the clouding of the eye's normally clear lens, blocking the passage of light needed for vision. They form slowly and cause no pain. Some stay small and hardly affect vision, but if the cataract does grow and begin to affect your vision, it can usually be removed with surgery. Each year there are more than 1.6 million of these delicate eye surgeries performed in the United States, and is one of the safest and most successful surgeries in terms of restoring quality of life to patients. "Cataract surgery is most often done as an out patient procedure under local anesthesia," says Dr. Bostrom. "The cloudy natural lens can be replaced with an artificial lens to give the eye proper focusing power. In most cases, the improvement in the patient's vision is significant. There are also different lens options to improve both up close and distance vision."
For more information about how cataract surgery can improve your vision, please click on arrow to view the video below.