The exact cause of cataracts is unclear, but they occur in everyone as they age. Cataracts may be the result of a lifetime of exposure to ultraviolet rays, like the sun's rays, and other factors such as cigarette smoking, diet, and alcohol consumption. Cataracts can also occur at any age as a result of other causes such as eye injury, exposure to toxic substances or radiation, certain medications or as a result of other diseases such as diabetes. Congenital cataracts may even be present at birth due to genetic defects or developmental problems. Cataracts in infants may also result from exposure to diseases such as rubella during pregnancy.

Cataracts are sometimes white, but more often yellow or brown. Depending on the type and severity, symptoms can vary greatly.

Since cataracts take a long time to develop, noticeable changes in your vision happen slowly. However, because they're progressive, symptoms are more apparent over time and may include

• Gradual deterioration of vision over time
  
• Objects appearing dull, hazy, blurred or distorted
• Dramatic reduction in night vision
• Vision in bright light or sunshine may be obstructed by glare
• You might see halos around lights at night
• Whites, blues and purples become gray
• Loss of the ability to focus on near objects

HOW ARE CATARACTS DIAGNOSED?

• To diagnose a cataract, we first listen carefully to the symptoms that the cataract is causing you to experience relative to the quality of your vision and its impact on your ability to function in your daily living activities. We then thoroughly evaluate your eyes, paying particular attention to your vision and how it is decreased by the cataracts. We also evaluate how glare may affect your vision. You will then undergo a complete eye exam, including tonometry to measure the pressure in your eyes, slit-lamp evaluation to look at the overall health of the eye and to assess the severity of the cataract formation. We also perform a careful examination of the retina and optic nerve by viewing the back of the eye through dilated pupils. This is to help us properly prepare you for your new post-operative vision. We may also perform other tests to learn about the structure and health of your eye.

We may detect cataracts forming in people as young as their early forties, and diagnose them more frequently as people age.

The best way to find out if you have cataracts forming is to simply ask your doctor. It's the quickest, easiest way to know if you have early signs of cataracts. Through a comprehensive, painless eye exam, your doctor will be able to determine if changes in your vision are due to the cataract, or some other condition. Not only will your doctor review your options with you right then and there, but also you will have found out early enough to do something about it before it impacts your lifestyle, even before you're having any appreciable visual impairment.

There was a time when people chose to wait until their vision deteriorated substantially before correcting the problem. But because of dramatic advances in modern cataract surgery, there is no longer any necessity to wait. The moment cataracts interfere with your vision or your lifestyle is the time to consider cataract surgery.

CONVENTIONAL THINKING ABOUT CATARACT VISION CORRECTION

For years, the conventional thinking was that as our eyes aged, the ciliary muscle , responsible for allowing your eyes to change focus from far, to intermediate and near, became inactive, and gradually was unable to affect the focus of the lens. Until very recently, this was the understanding that all treatments, procedures, devices, and articles were based on, including conventional cataract replacement lenses.

Since we believed that the muscle could no longer focus the lens, there were only two kinds of replacement lenses available for cataract vision correction. One was a fixed focus lens that let you see primarily at a distance and the other was a fixed multi-focal lens which divides the light presented to the eye with two points of focus at the same time allowing you to see near with one point of focus, and far on the other point of focus. With the later the brain has to learn which of the two images that are presented to it should be recognized for you to comfortably be able to perform any given task.

CURRENT THINKING ABOUT CATARACT VISION CORRECTION

Today, we know that that the process of accommodation-our lens changing focus by contraction of the ciliary muscle-is different than we thought

We know in fact, that even as eye muscles get older, they continue to contract and work quite well.We also know that with age, your lens becomes larger and stiffens, which makes it progressively less flexible.This loss of lens flexibility, prevents the ciliary muscle from changing the lens focusing ability. The ultimate result of these changes is a gradual and progressive loss of your intermediate and near distance focusing ability.

The goal of modern cataract surgery then is to use a cataract replacement lens that can accommodate, or move, to focus on objects near, far and in-between seamlessly using the natural desire of the eye and brain to focus. To accomplish this goal we are now fortunate to have the Crystalens™ Vision Enhancement Procedure.