Understanding The Symptoms Of Cataracts
As cataracts develop within the eye, you may increasingly notice the following symptoms:
Decreasing vision with age
Blurred or double vision
Seeing halos around bright lights
Difficulty seeing at night
Vision that worsens in sunlight
Difficulty distinguishing colors
Poor depth perception
Frequent prescription changes for glasses
Difficulty reading
Frequently Asked Questions
Cataracts occur when our natural God-given lenses become clouded and lose the clarity we had in younger life. The lenses become yellow or brown-tinted opaque. It’s a natural consequence of the aging process, but it can be accentuated by some steroid use, exposure to bright sunlight for extended periods of time, and some diseases like diabetes. Cataracts eventually reduce a person’s ability to see clearly.
Your eye doctor can perform a contrast sensitivity test to determine how much your vision has been affected by a cataract. But typically, when decreased vision affects your everyday activities or hobbies, a cataract should be treated.
As cataracts reach advanced stages of opacity, you may begin to notice certain problems with your vision like cloudiness (you can’t “get your glasses clean – they’re hazy all the time”), glare at night, unable to see or read without a bright light, or trouble with seeing blue-tinted headlights. Colors may also seem less sharp or vibrant than they used to be. Overall, it may seem as if you’re looking through a foggy windshield that won’t clear or wax paper.
The only treatment for cataracts is to surgically remove the clouded natural lens and replace it with a new artificial lens. This artificial lens is also known as an implant or intraocular lens (IOL)
An IOL, an acronym for intraocular lens, is an artificial lens implant that replaces the natural lens. Without your natural lens, you’ll have no way of focusing. The implant solves that problem after lens removal during cataract surgery to restore the eye’s ability to focus. In fact, in many cases an IOL can enable patients to see better without glasses. And because an IOL also blocks ultraviolet light that could harm the macula, it may help prevent the development of macular degeneration. An IOL should last for the rest of the patient’s lifetime.
Hattiesburg Eye Clinic offers 4 different types of intraocular lenses to its cataract patients.
The Tecnis Standard IOL is a monofocal lens, typically covered by insurance, which corrects primarily for distance vision. However, it’s not effective if you have astigmatism (an imperfection in the curve of the eye).
The TECNIS Eyhance™ Lens is also monofocal but with a breakthrough design that extends depth of focus for intermediate vision. This lens may also be used for patients with astigmatism with an added Toric component.
Hattiesburg Eye Clinic also offers the TECNIS Symfony® Lens, a multifocal IOL with extended depth of focus (EDOF) technology that can correct near, intermediate (for example, computer screen) and distant vision. It can also include a Toric component to correct astigmatism. Many patients who receive the Symfony® report better vision now than when they were younger.
Hattiesburg Eye Clinic recently became the first provider in the Hattiesburg region to offer its newest option, the TECNIS Odyssey™ Lens. This multifocal IOL contains a number of innovative technologies (including EDOF) that greatly increase the chances for sharp vision at any distance. And like our other premium lenses, it can also include a Toric component to correct for astigmatism.
No question – better vision is the treatment goal of cataract surgery, and most people will have improved sight after surgery. Many patients don’t realize they have a cataract because its effects worsen gradually day by day and they become used to their impaired vision. But after undergoing surgery and IOL implantation, many are surprised by the immediate change and often say they see a “different world.” Perhaps the most common observation refers to the change in color perception – many people say blues, greens and purples are beautifully vibrant and sharp afterward, or that their once “dingy” kitchen cabinets are now brilliantly “white.”
Yes, there’s always the potential of being free of glasses or decreasing their use after cataract surgery. We find the highest potential is in patients who receive a Toric or Symfony® lens implant. An estimated 95% of those patients achieve “no glasses” status. While some patients may need some form of correction for certain distances, most people can function without glasses for the majority of their daily activities. Patients who choose a standard IOL and Toric (both of which only correct for distance vision) will most likely need corrective lenses for near or intermediate vision.
There are two ways to surgically remove a cataract. The older traditional method requires the eye surgeon to manually perform all the steps necessary to remove the cataract, including making the incision, breaking the cataract into small pieces and vacuuming it out. The second more recent method utilizes laser technology that performs most if not all of these surgical steps.
At Hattiesburg Eye Clinic, we use the CATALYS® precision laser system, which utilizes a highly precise Femtosecond (or Femto) laser. The laser images the eye about 10,000 times a second to create a virtual image of the eye with precise measurements. The laser then uses those measurements to make all the incisions for the surgeon and then breaks the cataract apart with less time and energy than the manual approach. Once the cataract is completely removed, we can implant the new lens with much less energy and trauma to the eye than conventional surgery.
CATALYS® is the only surgical laser system designed from the ground up for cataract surgery. Other systems on the market are often adapted from Lasik procedures and may use a different type of laser. As a cataract-specific system, CATALYS®is very accurate and precise: it can do in thirty seconds what a surgeon manually performing could in three to four minutes. The procedure is efficient, quick – about 5 to 7 minutes from start to finish – and painless. Patients undergoing the procedure are not put to sleep under general anesthesia but given a local, topical anesthetic.
No, we perform cataract procedures now on an out-patient basis. In fact, Hattiesburg Eye Clinic has its own Medicare-approved out-patient surgery center dedicated to all our opthalmic surgical procedures including cataract surgery.
No, they’re usually performed 2 to 7 days apart depending on the patient’s schedule. This is primarily due to current Medicare and insurance rules, which don’t allow for both eyes to undergo cataract surgery at the same time.
Most people are able to see clearly immediately after surgery, with continuing improvements in focal sharpness over several hours or days. Discomfort is usually limited to a burning or stinging sensation afterward. Most patients can return to normal activities within twenty-four hours, but we advise them to avoid anything that stirs up dirt or dust, or causes water in the eyes (like lawn mowing or swimming) for about a week to minimize the risk of infection.
Get In Touch With Us:
To learn more about Hattiesburg Eye Clinic and our services please call us at 601 268 5910 or toll-free at 800 624 8254 or schedule a consultation.