Cataract

A typical symptom is a slow, painless deterioration of vision, as if looking through a dirty window or through a veil that gradually becomes thicker. A glare sensitivity is often noticed, which is annoying, for example, when driving at night. The perception of color and contrast also changes. Sometimes patients observe double contours in one eye. Glasses may also change. That way, patients who used to wear glasses, can suddenly see better without them. This is because the refractive power of the eye changes and with it the ability to clearly see objects closely or at a distance. However, this enhanced sense of vision usually does not last very long.

Your ophthalmologist will determine whether the cause of your symptoms is actually a cataract during a thorough overall examination of the eye. Thereby other concomitant eye diseases can also be detected. Depending on the result of the examination, your benefit gained from removing the cataract can be estimated.

The only method of treating cataracts is cataract surgery. In the process, the body’s own clouded lens is liquified using high frequency ultrasound and then aspirated (phacoemulsification). What remains is the capsular bag into which an artificial lens (intraocular lens) is then implanted. Then the vision becomes unclouded again. The surgery is most often done under local anesthesia (drop anesthesia) and is almost painless. Here you will find all information about cataract surgery.

In the case of a cataract, the body’s own lens starts to cloud slowly. The natural lens (crystalline lens) consists of proteins, which are densely packed and thus regularly ensure the natural transparency of the lens. Protective proteins (so-called crystallines) ensure that the lens fibrils are arranged regularly. If these protective proteins fail due to oxidative stress then the proteins agglutinate which in turn leads to a progressive loss of transparency – an opacity, clouding of the lens, progresses. This is more or less a natural aging process. In most cases (about 90%) a cataract is due to aging, the term used for this is senile cataract or age-related cataract. A cataract can also be caused by metabolic diseases such as Diabetes mellitus or lack of calcium (hypocalcemia), hyperparathyroidism or galactosemia. Inflammations within the eye, eye injuries or previous eye surgery, as well as the prolonged use of certain medication (such as cortisone) may lead to the early onset of a cataract. In rare case, a cataract may be congenital. Rubella during pregnancy may for example cause cataracts in babies.

The age-related cataract appears from the age of 60 on. According to statistics, about half of all 50 to 65-year olds have a a clouded lens without noticing. This is because no vision disorder is noticeable at the beginning. From the age of 65, almost everyone will have a clouded lens.