How Do Cataracts Affect Your Vision?

Cataracts, a common cause of vision loss that becomes more prevalent with age, affects 12%-20% of Americans. In fact, the National Eye Institute reports that by age 80, about half of all men and women either have cataracts or have had surgery to remove them.

Even though cataracts are common, it’s not always easy to know when they’re affecting you, especially in their early stages. 

In this post, Rodrigo Belalcazar, MD, at Advanced Eye Center in Hialeah, Florida, offers a quick overview of how cataracts form and some of the most common ways they could affect your vision.

How cataracts develop

Your eye contains a natural lens situated behind your pupil. This lens is composed primarily of water and proteins that allow light to enter your eye without obstruction. A cataract develops when the lens becomes cloudy, scattering or blocking light and making your vision blurred or dim.

Clouding inside the lens occurs when proteins degrade and clump together, typically from aging. Other factors can contribute to cataracts, as well, including some types of eye injuries, UV exposure, diabetes, and even smoking. 

In most cases, cataracts develop slowly, sometimes evolving over years before noticeably affecting your vision. While you can’t completely prevent cataracts, wearing sunglasses, quitting smoking, and managing your blood sugar can help slow their progression.

Symptoms to watch for

In their early stages, cataracts typically cause no symptoms at all. As the clouding continues, though, you’ll start to notice symptoms like:

• Cloudy or blurry vision
• Faded color vision
• Trouble with nighttime vision
• Dim vision or needing brighter lights to see clearly
• Difficulty seeing in very bright lights or in direct sunlight
• Halos around lights at night

Initially, you may be able to compensate for mild symptoms with magnifying glasses, sunglasses, or brighter lights. Adjusting the size of your computer font may also help initially. However, over time, as the cloudiness worsens and more of your lens is affected, vision loss can impact many of your daily activities, as well as your quality of life. 

Managing cataracts

There’s no medication or treatment to cure cataracts. Instead, they need to be treated with surgery to remove the clouded lens and replace it with a crystal-clear artificial lens. 

Cataract surgery is one of the most commonly performed surgeries in the United States with a long-established safety profile. Performed one eye at a time, cataract surgery can restore your clear vision without a long recovery period.

If you’ve noticed changes in your vision, an eye exam is the best way to understand what’s causing them and what can be done to improve your sight. To schedule a comprehensive eye exam, request an appointment with Dr. Belalcazar and our team at Advanced Eye Center today by calling 305-707-6011 or scheduling online.