Cataract is a disease of the eye, in which there is a clouding of the lens and as a result of a visual impairment, until its complete loss.
Causes of cataracts
Cataract often develops with age, but can be provoked by hereditary factors, trauma or develop as a complication in certain diseases.
Age-related cataracts are most common, but it develops slowly enough, and its symptoms do not appear immediately. The development of the disease can take from 5 to 15 years. Traumatic and other types of cataracts usually appear in a much shorter period of time.
Stages of cataract eye
In medicine, there are 4 stages of cataract:
- initial;
- immature;
- mature;
- overripe.
At the initial stage of the cataract the symptoms are usually not expressed, cloudiness affects mainly the peripheral areas, and the disease may go unnoticed.
In the immature stage, turbidity affects the entire lens, there is a decrease in visual acuity and, often enough, increased intraocular pressure.
At the mature stage, a strong clouding of the lens is observed, so that the patient sees indistinctly, only in close proximity to the eyes.
In the fourth stage, the quality of vision remains the same as in the previous one, the pupil acquires a milky-white hue, structural changes in the lens of the eye are observed.
Symptoms of cataracts in the early stages
At the initial stage of cataract, the following symptoms can occur:
- the appearance before the eyes of dark dots and flies ;
- bifurcation of the image, especially noticeable if one eye is covered;
- deterioration of night vision;
- increased photosensitivity;
- increased eye fatigue when focusing on small details;
- sometimes progressive myopia or hyperopia.
As the disease develops:
- reduced visibility (subjects appear blurry), and
To correct a defect with the help of glasses it is not possible; - violation of color perception (difficulty in distinguishing colors, often all in the field of view acquires a yellowish tinge);
- the appearance of a halo around the light sources;
- photophobia.
In the initial stages of cataract (with the exception of congenital), medicamentous and therapeutic methods of treatment are usually used. But in later stages, with severe opacification of the lens, surgical intervention is performed with the replacement of the lens of the eye .