What Is a Cataract?
Cataracts affect over one person in five aged 65 and over. The only treatment is surgery. Symptoms are multiple:
- Loss of vision
- Fog
- Glare in bright light
- Trouble seeing colours
Cataracts are due to the development of opacities on the crystalline lens. The latter’s opacity gradually increases over the years, turning the invisible glass of vision into a frosted window.
Only surgery causes proper vision to return. The operation consists in removing the nucleus of the crystalline lens and replacing it with an artificial lens. Through an incision, the surgeon introduces a small probe into the eyeball that produces ultrasounds. In a few minutes, they disintegrate and pump out pieces of the crystalline lens. All that’s left is to slide a flexible implant in the same incision.
Surgery takes less than 30 minutes under local anaesthesia. Follow-up operations are brief and painless, and recovery of vision is fast. Patients can resume near-normal activity a day after surgery.
