Cataracts
Your lens sits just behind your iris, the coloured part of your eye. Normally your lens is clear and helps to focus the light entering your eye. Developing cataracts clouds the lens and will cause your sight to become blurred and misty.
Cataracts result from changes in the way the cells of the lens are arranged and their water content, which causes the lens to become cloudy instead of clear. When this happens, light cannot pass directly through the lens and you may notice problems with your vision. A cataract is not a growth or a film growing over the eye; it is simply the lens becoming cloudy.
The cure is to replace your cloudy lens with a new artificial lens, It is an increasingly routine surgery with a very high success rate
FAQs
Developing cataracts is a normal part of growing older. Most people start to develop cataracts after the age of 65, but it can happen much earlier.
Certain things make it more likely that you will develop cataracts:
- Diabetes
- Trauma – having an eye injury or even eye surgery
- Medications – some prescription drugs such as steroids.
- Eye conditions – such as retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma or uveitis.
- Having high myopia (being very short sighted).
Cataracts normally develop very slowly. At first, the changes they make to your sight may be difficult to notice, but as they get worse you’ll start to notice symptoms such as:
- You feel like your glasses are dirty and need cleaning, even when they don’t.
- Your sight is misty and cloudy.
- You’re more sensitive to light – bright sunlight or car headlamps may glare more.
- Everything looks a little more washed out than it should be.
Cataracts often develop so slowly that you might not notice the changes in your vision, they are often first detected by your optician at a routine eye check.
Cataract surgery removes your natural lens and replaces it with an artificial lens implant.
Practically all cataract surgery in the UK is performed by phacoemulsification. This is a way of removing your cataracts with an instrument which uses sound waves to break up the lens in your eye.
Most people have the operation under a local anaesthetic. This means that you’ll be awake during the operation but you won’t feel any pain. Your local anaesthetic may be just eye drops, an injection, or a combination of both.
Most cataract operations are performed as day-case procedures, meaning that you won’t stay in a hospital overnight. You should probably plan to be at the hospital for no more than 4 hours.
When you take the dressing off your eye, you may notice your vision is brighter and maybe clearer than it was before the operation. You might notice this change straight away as soon as you remove the dressing, but it may also take a couple of days for your sight to improve. Within two to five days, your eye should be feeling normal and the cloudiness caused by your cataract should be improved.
The lens that is implanted in your eye is usually designed to give you clear distance vision without needing glasses. Sometimes this is not quite achieved and you’ll need a pair of distance glasses to fine-tune the focus and to get the best possible distance vision. We are also able to advise on inserting toric lenses (to correct astigmatism) and multi-focal lenses to achieve improved vision for distance as-well as near. These lenses are not suitable for everyone. Here at the Hampshire eye clinic, you will receive an honest and informative opinion that will help make you make the right choice for your circumstances.
Although all the calculations and measurements done before the surgery may have been correct, you may still find that you need both distance and up-close glasses afterwards, to give you the best possible vision. This is because the aim of cataract surgery is to give you clear vision, rather than to remove your need for glasses although our success rates usually leave you without the need for glasses.
Cataract surgery is a safe and successful operation. The chances of having a complication are very low. The risk of having complications that could affect your sight in the long term is even lower.
Generally speaking, you have a 97 per cent chance of your cataract operation being successful, meaning you’ll have a good level of clear vision following the operation. This is a UK wide statistic, here at the Hampshire Eye Clinic, we are have over a 99% success rate.
The most likely complication following the surgery is called posterior capsule opacification. This is where your lens capsule, which holds the lens implant in place, becomes cloudy. This can occur weeks, months or years after surgery. This cloudiness will affect your vision. If this happens, you will usually be offered a simple laser procedure to make your sight clear again.
Other rarer complications of cataract surgery include:
- retinal detachment
- macular oedema, a condition where fluid collects in the central part of your retina
- problems with the position of the lens implant
- a break in the lens capsule
- infection.
Most people who have cataract surgery have no problems at all.
If you experience any of the symptoms from the list above and would like an honest, friendly and professional opinion, contact us using the form provided, via email info@privateophthalmologist.co.uk or call 07949 767906. These symptoms can happen in other conditions and we can guide you to the most appropriate care.
Quality care in a relaxing surrounding
Book an appointment to see Mr Nish Srikantha at the Candover clinic in Basingstoke, or the Healthshare Clinic in Winchester.
Both locations are modern purpose built private hospitals designed entirely for patient well-being and comfort. The Candover Clinic is a stand-alone unit located on the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital. The Healthshare Clinic on the outskirts of Winchester boasts a purpose built ophthalmic outpatients department and operating theatre offering the latest diagnostic and treatment technologies.
