Cataract Awareness month is in August
Get the word out on prevention and treatment
Many people believe that poor eyesight is an inevitable part of aging, yet frequently the blurred vision can be much improved with cataract surgery, says Anne Sumers, MD, in private practice in Ridgewood, NJ, and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, based in San Francisco.
"As people grow older they don't expect to have good vision. They see losing their vision and hearing as part of the aging process, yet cataracts are so fixable," she says.
A cataract is a fogging or clouding of the lens of the eye. Anyone who lives a long life will develop a cataract because it is a natural aging process of the lens.
August is Cataract Awareness Month, which is a good time to let people in their 60s and 70s know that if they are experiencing poor vision a simple, half-hour procedure will improve their vision.
Yet education on cataracts should not be limited to older people. It's a good idea for everyone, including children, to protect their eyes from UV rays by wearing sunglasses and a broad brim hat. Sumers says a research study done many years ago followed a group of fishermen who wore sunglasses and a broad brimmed hat while out on the water. It found that they developed cataracts much more slowly than the fishermen who did not protect their eyes.
People with diabetes are at a higher risk for developing cataracts as well. Those with poorly controlled diabetes are particularly vulnerable, says Sumers.
Steroids, which are prescribed for such diseases as asthma, increase the risk for developing cataracts. Another common reason for developing a cataract is trauma. "If you get hit in the eye, no matter how old or young you are, you will probably get a cataract from blunt trauma," says Sumers.
Cataracts are only a problem if people are having difficulty with glare at night or with reading. "A lot of times the cataracts will change people's prescriptions so we'll adjust the glasses a couple of times over a period of years. Finally, if the best glasses do not give people vision they are satisfied with, it is time for cataract surgery. It is not an emergency; no one is ever blinded by having cataracts," says Sumers.
Sometimes elderly patients think they do not qualify for cataract surgery because they have been told they cannot have other elective surgery, such as a hip replacement, adds Sumers. They may have breathing problems that prohibit the use of anesthesia or they may take anticoagulants.
Yet health problems that may prevent regular surgery will not prohibit cataract surgery. A few drops of topical anesthesia will make the patient comfortable enough for the physician to remove the cloudy lens and replace it with an artificial lens.
The key elements to remember are that cataracts do not endanger vision. Therefore, if they are mild and are causing no symptoms, surgery is not required. However, when people have difficulty seeing because of a cataract a simple surgery can correct the problem, says Sumers.
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For more information about Cataract Awareness Month contact:
- American Academy of Ophthalmology, P.O. Box 7424, San Francisco, CA 94120-7424. Telephone: (415) 447-0213 E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: www.aao.org.
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