Cataracts

A cataract is when your eye’s natural lens becomes cloudy. Proteins in your lens break down and cause things to look blurry, hazy, or less colorful.

Vision Problems with Cataracts

If you have a cataract, your lens has become cloudy, like the bottom lens in the illustration. It is like looking through a foggy or dusty car windshield. Things look blurry, hazy, or less colorful with a cataract.

Cataract Symptoms

• Blurred vision
• Double or ghosted images out of the eye with cataract 
• Being extra sensitive to light (especially with oncoming headlights at night)
• Having trouble seeing well at night, or needing more light when you read
• Seeing bright colors as faded or yellow instead

What Causes Cataracts?

Aging is the most common cause. This is due to normal eye changes that begin to happen after age 40. That is when normal proteins in the lens start to break down. This is what causes the lens to get cloudy. People over age 60 usually start to have some clouding of their lenses. However, vision problems may not happen until years later.

Other reasons you may get cataracts include:

• having parents, brothers, sisters, or other family members who have cataracts
• having certain medical problems, such as diabetes
• smoking
• having had an eye injury, eye surgery, or radiation treatments on your upper body
• having spent a lot of time in the sun, especially without sunglasses that protect your eyes from damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays
• using certain medications such as corticosteroids, which may cause early formation of cataracts.

Most age-related cataracts develop gradually. Other cataracts can develop more quickly, such as those in younger people or those in people with diabetes. Doctors cannot predict how quickly a person’s cataract will develop.

• preparation for and recovery after surgery,
• benefits and possible complications of cataract surgery,
• cataract surgery costs,
• other questions you have.

Cataract Surgery

There are technical requirements for standard cataract surgery including use of a microscope and phacomulsifier (image courtesy J&J vision). A contemporary advance form of cataract surgery using a laser is called Femtosecond Laser Cataract Surgery of FLACS Then he or she will replace it with an artificial lens. This new lens is called an intraocular lens (or IOL). When you decide to have cataract surgery, your doctor will talk with you about IOLs and how they work.

Cataracts are a very common reason people lose vision, but they can be treated.

Leading Cataract Surgeons in Chicago and the Surrounding Western Suburbs

Westchester Eye Surgeons has been successfully treating cataract patients for more than 20 years. Dr. Spero J. Kinnas is one of the leading eye surgeons in the Chicago area. We specialize in the treatment of cataracts using the latest technologies and practices to ensure the utmost in safety and expedited recovery times.

Westchester Eye Surgeons proudly offer a wide range of services for eye surgery in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Our website offers a wealth of information including videos and an insight into technologies to help you decide which cataract treatment is right for you.

Still don’t know whether you’re ready to commit to cataract surgery? Why not speak with us today?

Our offices are conveniently located for Chicagoland residents in Westchester, IL, a western suburb of Chicago. Contact Westchester Eye Surgeons today to set up a consultation.