Cataract Awareness Month: Raising Awareness of Cataracts the Leading Cause of Treatable Vision Loss

Cataracts are a clouding of the lens. They develop gradually, (in early stages there may not be noticeable changes in vision). Symptoms may include, but not limited to, blurry vision, sensitivity to light and halos.

The cause of cataracts can be due to a number of factors:

• Age (more common over 60s);
• Smoking (increasing risk);
• Regular exposure to UV without appropriate protection and other health related conditions such as type 2 diabetes and;
• High blood pressure

There is criteria in place to help monitor the development of the cataract and its impact to your sight and day-to-day living. Once the threshold is met, your optician can then refer you for cataract surgery.

The procedure of Cataract surgery removes the cloudy natural lens in your eye and replaces it with an artificial lens. Typically, this is performed under local anaesthesia and takes around 30-45 minutes. Hopefully, improving vision by restoring clarity to the eye.