Cataracts - partial or full crystalline lens clouding, found between the iris and the vitreous body within the eyeball. The lens is naturally transparent and acts as a natural lens which refracts light rays and transfers them to the retina. The lens that lost clarity during cataracts stops transmitting light and deteriorates vision until it is completely lost.
Causes of cataracts and risk groups
Cataracts may develop :
- In older people - age-related cataracts (90% of all cases of cataracts );
- In people after injuries - traumatic cataract (4%);
- After radiation exposure - radiation cataract (3%);
- In newborns - congenital cataract (3%).
Endocrine disorders (metabolic disorders, diabetes mellitus), vitamin deficiency, certain eye conditions, adverse environmental factors, and long-term use of certain medicines lead to cataract growth. It has been shown in recent years that cataract triggers can also become aggressive smoking.
Symptoms of Cataract
The ancient Greeks named the «waterfall» cataract - kataraktes. A human sees, misted glass, through a veil. This is the main symptom of cataracts, that the haze has reached the lens' central region and needs prompt care.
Cataract in the elderly
Most often, age-related cataracts occur . According to statistics from the World Health Organization , in 70-80% of cases, cataracts develop in people after 70 years . However, age may develop cataracts earlier , at the age of 45 - 50 years . Senile are sometimes called age-related cataracts, but this term can not be considered accurate.
The main reason for the age-related cataract formation - a change of the biochemical composition of the lens , due to the aging process in the body . Clouding of the lens from the point of view of the functioning of the human body is a completely natural phenomenon , therefore, no one is safe from cataracts .
Congenital cataract in a child
More than half of all congenital defects of the vision system are congenital cataracts. Infant cataracts caused by genetic variations in the protein structure, required to ensure clarity of the lens. Maternal diabetes, mother's infectious diseases in the first trimester of pregnancy, and other drugs can be caused by cataracts in children under one year of age. The key problem about this situation is that congenital cataract is diagnosed early. If the position and extent of the opacification in the lens does not interfere with the proper functioning of the visual system, then a cataract does not need emergency surgery.
Cataract treatment
Treatment for cataracts involves the use of radical surgical methods.
Cataract surgery
The essence of cataract surgery is the replacement of a clouded natural lens of the human eye with an intraocular lens. The procedure takes just about 15-20 minutes without anesthesia and is accepted, as a rule, quite easily. Local drip anesthesia, used during the operation, removes needless cardio-vascular and body loads as a whole, the high safety of the technique enables patients of any age group to be handled. After cataract surgery, the recovery time is short and requires a minimum of limitations.
Modern artificial lenses have a yellow filter that protects the retina from harmful ultraviolet radiation. As a rule, their design has an aspheric component , which yields high-quality , clear and sharp images in daylight, and in the evening . The design of the multifocal intraocular lens provides several optical focus, allowing to obtain the maximum visual acuity as a remote distance, and near, giving the patient the opportunity to completely get rid of the glasses.
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