What Is Cataract

Cataract is clouding of human crystalline eye lens which is normally clear & transparent.
This blocks the light rays from passing through the lens & blurs the vision. The patient feels like as if he is looking through a frosted / fogged glass. As the cataract progresses, the vision blurs further & eventually there is complete loss of vision.

What are the Symptoms of Cataract?

Slow, painless and progressive blurring of vision is the hallmark of a cataract. Images are yellow, hazy and blurred. Sometimes it may cause double or multiple images. All these symptoms are not correctable by change in glasses. Also there may be increased glare, haloes at night time. Some people may notice an Improvement in their near vision or a frequent change in their glasses prescription.

Causes of Cataract

It is an ageing process. Everyone will experience a cataract in their lifetime. Only the age at which a cataract strikes varies in individuals. It usually sets in around 60 years but in certain individuals it can happen early in life. Other causes of early cataract are Diabetes Eye Injury. Use of certain medications like steroids, Infection or Inflammation inside the eye. Cataract can sometimes be a congenital defect in children.

Cataract Surgery & Recovery:

With all the advances in technology, Cataract is removed through a tiny 2.2 mm microincision with ultrasonic energy The eye recovers rapidly within 2-3 days and patient can resurne his work schedule in quick time. The patient notices an improved vision almost immediately after the procedure.

Is Cataract Surgery safe?

Cataract surgery is one of the safest surgeries performed the world over. However somme minor complications like slight drooping of lid, lid swelling. comeal haze, glare, floaters (black spots) are temporary and recover with healing & medications Chances of serious complications like infection, inflammation, retinal detachment & nucleus drop are negligible.

Aspheric Lenses

Vision with a Non-Aspheric lens Improved contrast, low light vision & night vision due to Aspheric IOL
Conventional or non aspheric lenses impart images which are not as sharp as they could be, which means the patient will have vision of an older person rather than that of a healthy younger person.
Aspheric lenses or aberration free lenses are surface modified to improve image quality, brightness & overall contrast Because of its wavefront design they provide excellent night vision & low light vision e.g. walking in a fog or dining by candlelight. It also enables faster reaction time when driving at night.
Aspheric lenses which are negatively aberrated also improve depth perception.

Toric Lens

In a healthy human eye, comea is round in shape like a basketball In eyes with astigmatism (cylindrical numbers) the cornea is asymmetrical & shaped more like an egg When light passes through a corea with astigmatism the image does not focus sharply on the retina causing blurred vision.
Toric lenses are designed to correct the astigmatisrn so as to minimise the need for corrective lenses after surgery.

Multifocal Lenses

Monofocal Lenses provide an individual with good distance vision but patient typically needs reading glasses to see up close.

Multifocal Lenses are technologically designed to provide an individual with full range of vision from distance to intermediate to near (reading).

However in Multifocal Lenses, patient notice rings (haloes) around light when driving at night. Also it may cause glare which is a scattered light effect that can appear around a source of light. As the eye adjusts to the lens, over time, the visual impression of haloes & glare typically lessens. Also multifocal lenses decrease some amount of contrast which may affect low light visibility eg dim lighting or fog. On the other hand it has an advantage of spectacles free vision for most distances.

Extended range of vision lenses

These lenses use two advanced technologies of elongating the focus of the eye & correcting chromatic aberration (Colour distortion). Hence these lenses provide sharp vision in all lighting conditions including low light. Also these lenses almost eliminate the problem of glare & haloes associated with multifocal lenses. But unlike multifocal lenses the patient may require the aid of small reading numbers to read extremely fine print. These lenses provide excellent distance & intermediate (computer) vision & functional near vision.
Other advances in lenses include microphaco lenses that are injected through an extremely tiny 1.8 mm incision, Accomodative lenses that rely on patient's own accommodation to impart near vision, Trifocal lenses that provide excellent intermediate vision as compared to multifocal lenses, Heparin coated & Ozone modified lenses to overcome the posterior capsule opacity.