Cataract

Cataract is not a disease. It is a natural ageing process causing the normally clear lens of the eye to become increasingly cloudy. This happens at different ages and different rates in each person.

In its early stages, surgery is not normally recommended as the benefits are likely to be small and would be outweighed by the small but real risks of surgery which are:

• 1 in 50 will for a range of reasons have a disappointing result, maybe worse than the level of vision before surgery
• 1 in 100 will have a poor result being left dependant on the other eye for useful vision
• 1 in 1000 will lose sight in the operated eye entirely
• 1 in ~10,000 will have to have an eye removed due to some devastating complication

Left untreated, your vision will slowly deteriorate but you will come to no harm. In early and moderate cataract, the same result will be achieved whenever the operation is done, so there is no advantage to operating sooner rather than later. Only when cataract becomes very advanced does surgery become more difficult.

The right time to have the surgery is only when you feel you are sufficiently troubled to justify the risks involved and we will help you to decide when this is.

Please do discuss any concerns you have with your optometrist or email vision@cameronoptom.com.

Find out more in this informative video.