Cataract

Definition and symptoms

What is a cataract? 

A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye, which is typically clear. The vast majority of cataracts appear with age. It is usually bilateral, but can be asymmetrical.  It’s one of the leading causes of blindness in the world. Other forms of cataracts exist: They can appear after eye trauma, or occur as a complication of serious eye conditions (infections, inflammations), metabolic problems, or following the use of certain drug treatments. There are also congenital forms of cataracts. 

Who can be affected? 

Cataracts affect both men and women. In France, it concerns about 20% of the population over 65 years of age, and more than 60% of people over 85 years of age. 

How does it affect patient? 

Patient with cataracts suffer from hypersensitivity to light, glare (photophobia), a weaker perception of contrasts (difficulty seeing the edge of pavements, shadows, etc.). Colour vision can also be impaired. At a more advanced stage, the patient may have the sensation of a haze or fog in front of the eye. Then, he may experience a gradual decrease in visual acuity (blurred vision, despite an adapted optical correction). At a very advanced stage, the total opacification of the lens no longer allows light to pass through. 

Cataract Treatments

In France, cataract surgery is the most commonly performed operation. There are about 600,000 surgeries per year. 
The opaque lens is replaced with a transparent implant. Functional recovery is excellent in 90% of cases. 

Possible difficulties faced by patients with cataract

People with cataracts have difficulty recognizing faces and signs in the distance: street signs, movie subtitles, pedestrian lights, etc. They have difficulty reading a book, a newspaper, a magazine and information on a screen: surfing the Internet, reading an email. Looking at photos or watching television is also made difficult by cataracts.