Cataract

What is Cataract?

Any opacity or cloudiness of the lens causing visual impairment is known as cataract.

The most well-known factor to develop cataract is increasing age. Cataract starts when the proteins begin to denature and form clumps in the lens due to which the light transmission decreases and the patient encounters blured vision. As the age increases, the cataract progresses and it would interfere with the vision much more.

Symptoms of Cataract

• Progressive diminishing of vision.
• Encountering glare while driving at night.
• Development of coloured halos around the light
• Decrease in the colour tones

Cataract grossly is of two types:

1. Acquired cataract
2. Congenital cataract

The following are some causes and risk factors of acquired cataracts

1. Age: Increasing age is the most widely recognized factor for cataract. As the age builds the degree of cataract increases.

2. Heredity: It plays a very considerable role in the incidence of cataract.

3. Exposure to UV Radiation: More exposure to UV radiation from sunlight has been implicated for the early onset and maturation of cataract. In this way, the risk of early onset of cataract is more in outdoor workers like farmers, construction site workers, forest workers, etc.,

4. Dietary factors: Less intake of proteins, amino acids, vitamins, nutrients, and essential elements have been blamed for early onset of cataract.

5. Diabetes: It is a well-known factor for the early onset of cataract. Due to high blood glucose levels there is metabolic disturbance in the lens due to which the lens transparency reduces.

6. Myopia: Myopia is also found to be a risk factor for cataract.

7. Smoking: It increases the risk of early development of cataract. Smoking causes reduction in antioxidants and furthermore it contains heavy metals such as cadmium, lead and copper which cause a disturbance in the lens metabolism.

8. Alcohol: Consumption of alcohol is a risk factor for early cataract development.

9. Radiation: Radiation treatment is likewise a factor for the early onset of cataract.

10. Heat: Prolonged exposure to infrared rays may cause cataract. It is typically seen in people working in glass industries, fire fighters, etc.,

11. Corticosteroids: Formation of cataract is associated with the use of topical as well as systemic steroids for a long duration.

12. Trauma: An injury to the eye may also be a reason for the onset of cataract which is also known as Traumatic cataract.

Here's something about the Congenital cataract/Developmental cataract:

Opacity of the lens which is present at birth is known as congenital or developmental cataract. It happens in around three in ten thousand live births.

These are the factors responsible for congenital cataract:

1. Heredity
2. Chromosomal abnormalities like Down’s Syndrome.
3. Maternal malnutrition such as vitamin-D deficiency
4. Maternal infection
5. Hypocalcaemia (deficiency of calcium)
6. Use of corticosteroids for long time during pregnancy.

How our experts at Sri Krishna Eye Institute diagnose cataract:

Our team of ophthalmologists and optometrists perform a comprehensive eye examination on the patient’s eyes. We do a complete and detailed history taking of the patients, visual acuity testing to get an idea about the density of cataract, objective refraction followed by subjective refraction to know if there is a need to change your spectacle prescription, slit lamp evaluation, applanation tonometry for intraocular pressure, dilatation(to widen the pupil) followed by our team of ophthalmologists for the evaluation of the lens under high magnification and illumination to observe and decide the degree and area of the cataract and also to screen for glaucoma and retinal disorders.

At Sri Krishna Eye Institute, we have the most advanced equipment for cataract surgery.

1. Carl Zeiss IOL Master for calculating the power of the Intra Ocular Lens that is to be implanted in the eye after removing the cataract. We were the first in Coastal Andhra to introduce Optical Biometry.


2. Carl Zeiss VISU 200 microscope for performing the Cataract surgery.


3. Bausch & Lomb Stellaris Elite Phacoemulsification Machine. The second machine in entire asia was installed at Sri Krishna Eye Institute.

Treatment:

There is no medical treatment for it. Cataract surgery is the only procedure performed to treat this.

In the event that the cataract isn't sufficiently mature and assuming the symptoms are not irritating you, you might simply need to change the glass prescription.

By taking a look at the reports of your visual acuity, refraction and the level of cataract, ophthalmologist will advise you the correct thing about whether you need to go through a cataract surgery or changing your glass prescription would be fine.

SICS (Small Incision Cataract Surgery) and phacoemulsification are the two main types of cataract surgical procedures that are most commonly performed currently.

This will assist you with finding out about cataract surgical procedure:

Your eye will be desensitized with eye drops or with an injection around the eye. You may likewise be given a medication to help you relax. You will be awake during a surgical procedure.

Your surgeon looks through a microscope and makes small entry points (cuts made by a cutting edge or a laser) close to the edge of your cornea to arrive at the lens in your eye. Utilizing exceptionally little instruments, the surgeon will separate the lens with the cataract and remove it. Then, at that point surgeon inserts a new artificial lens known as Intra Ocular Lens.

An eye shield will be put over your eye to protect it after the surgical procedure is done.

After some time, post-operative assessment is finished by the ophthalmologist and the patient is sent home.

Few tips about Cataract:

There are no clinically proven tips for preventing the cataract.

The below mentioned points might be of some benefit.

• Stop smoking and consumption of alcohol.
• Reducing the exposure of the eyes to UV rays by wearing protection such as sunglasses, tinted spectacles, polarising goggles, etc.,
• Increasing the consumption of antioxidants, proteins, amino acids, vitamins and other essential elements.
• If you are a diabetic, keep the blood sugar level under control.

Writer:

Dr. S. Preethi-DOMS, DNB

Ophthalmologist at SKEI