Do You Know If It’s Time to Find the Best Cataract Surgeon in Columbus?
Are you among the more than 65 million people living with a cataract? Cataracts are an extremely common eye condition and are the leading cause of vision loss.
Cataracts can cloud your vision, making your vision appear blurry or foggy. They can also alter how you perceive color and even cause double vision.
Cataracts tend to develop gradually, often beginning when an individual is in their forties or fifties. Cataract surgery is the only solution for cataracts.
However, not everyone who is diagnosed with cataracts needs to have cataract surgery right away. Keep reading to learn if it’s time to find the best cataract surgeon in Columbus!
What Is a Cataract?
A cataract is a clouding of your eye’s natural lens. It is located closer to the front of your eye and is typically transparent.
Your eye’s lens helps to focus light onto the retina, so your brain can produce clear images for you to see. Cataracts develop as your eyes age.
Your eyes contain proteins, which begin to build up and clump together as you age. Cataracts often develop slowly over time.
Since they stop light from passing through the lens as it should, they can obscure your vision. Eventually, this can lead to substantial vision loss.
The most significant risk factor for developing a cataract is your age. It’s also possible for injuries that cause trauma to the eye to trigger the development of a cataract.
Other risk factors include sun exposure, smoking, diabetes, poor nutrition, excessive alcohol consumption, certain medications, obesity, and hypertension.
What Symptoms Do Cataracts Cause?
When a cataract forms on your lens, your vision can become blurry. It can appear as if there is always fog in front of your face or as if you’re looking through a dirty window.
Many patients experience increased glare and halos around light sources, like oncoming headlights. Double vision is also a common symptom.
In addition, a cataract can affect the way you see color. Colors can appear faded and less vibrant.
Your vision can take on a yellowish tinge, making it difficult to distinguish between certain colors like blues and purples.
What is Cataract Surgery?
The only way to treat a cataract is through cataract surgery. During cataract surgery, your cataract surgeon will remove the clouded lens of your eye and replaces it with an artificial one.
This new lens is referred to as an intraocular lens or IOL. The new lens will permanently correct your vision.
With the cataract gone, you can expect to experience clear and crisp vision once your eye heals. Performed in an outpatient setting, cataract surgery is incredibly safe.
Every year, millions of cataract removal procedures are performed all around the globe.
What is the Recovery Process Like After Cataract Surgery?
The recovery period for cataract surgery is often relatively short. You may experience mild discomfort, itching, or tearing immediately following cataract surgery, but this usually subsides within a day or two.
You can plan to resume most of your normal activities within a few days. You’ll very quickly be able to see the dramatic difference in your vision.
Your vision will likely continue to improve as your eye heals fully over the next several weeks. Once you’ve had cataract surgery, you will not have to worry about a cataract forming on that eye again, as it’s impossible for a cataract to develop on an artificial lens.
How Do You Know When You Need Cataract Surgery?
Once you’re diagnosed with a cataract, you may not need cataract surgery immediately. Cataracts develop gradually over time, and in the early stages, they may not bother you.
Some people are not even aware they have a cataract at all. The decision to undergo cataract surgery is up to you and your eye doctor.
Cataract Surgery is often recommended when a cataract progresses to the point where your symptoms begin to interfere significantly with your day-to-day life. You may struggle to drive at night, as glare from oncoming headlights can seem blinding.
You may find it very difficult to read. Cooking, computer work, and many other activities can become challenging and frustrating. You also may be more likely to fall due to reduced vision.
Sometimes turning on an extra light or wearing reading glasses is enough to help you see better, but these accommodations are not always effective long-term. They also require you to take special efforts to be able to see clearly.
Cataracts do not get better on their own. They only worsen with time.
So, if they’re bothering you now, they will only bother you more in the future. Cataract surgery is a simple, straightforward way to eliminate cataract symptoms.
In a single day, your vision can go from cloudy to crystal clear, and you won’t have to worry about a cataract ever again. When a cataract hinders you from living your life the way you want, it’s time to find the best cataract surgeon in Columbus.
Are you ready to experience clear vision without cataracts? Schedule a cataract evaluation at Complete EyeCare West in Columbus, OH, today!
