What Is A Cataract?

The lens of the eye is a transparent and flexible structure in the eye which enables the eye to focus clearly on objects at varying distances. As you age your lens becomes less flexible, more opaque and thicker. Early on these changes in the lens manifest with a need for reading spectacles, usually around 40 to 50 years of age, and then you may develop less contrast sensitivity in dim light.

Lens opacification, known as a cataract develops slowly over many years. Cataract formation only affects the lens of the eye and does not affect other structures in the eye such as the cornea, iris, retina or optic nerve. This opacification of the lens blocks and scatters the light as it passes through the lens, preventing a sharply defined image from reaching your retina (the part of the eye which converts the light entering the eye into biochemical signals which are subsequently transmitted to the brain). As the cataract continues to develop, the opacity becomes denser and this leads to a decrease in vision.

When symptoms begin to appear, vision may be improved through the use of new spectacles, stronger bifocals, magnification, appropriate lighting or other visual aids. In more advanced cases, cataract surgery is very successful in restoring vision.

The image below is Claude Monet’s water lily pond, painted on the left in 1906 prior to developing cataracts and on the right in 1919 with mild cataract.