A cataract is an eye ailment which stems from the natural lens within the eye losing its transparency and result in a reduction of vision in connection with this. 90% of the time it surfaces with advanving age. A cataract is a situation where the lens within the eye loses its transparency and takes an opaque appearance. It is the leading treatable cause of blindness in the world.
What are the causes of cataracts?
While it has no specific known cause, there are numerous risk factors including nutrition and ultraviolet rays.
The most important cause of cataracts is old age. Apart from old age, cataract can also be caused by trauma, follwing certain other eye surgeries, certain medication and diabetes, as well as uveitis eye pressure, and other eye diseases, as a secondary facktors.
The treatment of cataracts:
Cataracts cannot be treated with medication. The only treatment is surgery.
The name of the procedure which is known among the puplic as laser cataract surgery is phacoemulssification. With this method, the catarat within the eye is ground with the aid of needle, which operates with ultrasonic vibrations, and removed from the eye. This surgery is known in short as the PHACO operation.
Part from special circumstances, general or local anaesthesia is used in cataract surgery today. The patient is prepared fort he surgery with just 4-5 eye drops which numb the eye. The patient must then lie down on his/her back in a peaceful state, for 10-15 minutes.
What should the specifications of the lenses placed in the eye be?
Should the patient require a multifocal lens within the eye in order to be able to see both near and far araes without glasses, he/she must inform his/her doctors. That is because many doctors do not use multifocal lenses unless their patient specifically asks fort them, and place standart mono-focal lenses into the eye. This causes patients to lose the advantage of being able to see without near vision glasses. The multifocal lenses we use require a slightly more sensitive surgery when compared to standard cataract lenses.
The use medication following surgery:
Cortisone and antibiotic eye drops and non-steroid eye drops are used 4-6 times a day, for 3-4 weeks
Following the operation. The controls following the surgery are after 1 day, 1 week and 1 month (glasses examination).