Cataracts: What to Know About the Causes & Treatments
Grace Weatherby
/ Categories: WELLNESS, 2024

Cataracts: What to Know About the Causes & Treatments

Cataract is the leading cause of blindness worldwide. Closer to home, there are currently more than 24 million Americans age 40 and older who have cataracts and more than half of all Americans age 80 or older either have visually significant cataracts or have had surgery to remove cataracts. 

A cataract is a clouding of the lens inside the eye, which blocks or changes the passage of light into the eye. Cataracts are part of the normal aging process but once they interfere with the clarity of your vision on a day-to-day basis, you can consider having cataract surgery to remove them.    

While a cataract generally does not cause pain, redness or tearing, it can impact your vision. Signs of cataract include:

  • Blurred vision, double vision in one eye, ghost images, or the sense of a film over the eyes
  • Difficulty seeing at night
  • Seeing a halo around lights
  • Normal lighting, the sun, and headlights seem too bright
  • Needing to change your eyeglass or contact lens prescriptions often
  • A milky or white spot in the normally black pupil of your eye

While age certainly plays a part in the development of cataracts there are other risk factors, such as:

  • Intense heat or long-term exposure to UV rays from the sun
  • Certain diseases, such as diabetes
  • Inflammation in the eye
  • Family history of cataracts
  • Events before birth, such as German measles in the mother
  • Taking steroids
  • Eye injuries
  • Eye diseases
  • Smoking

While cataracts cannot be prevented entirely, you can help delay their onset and progression with healthy lifestyle choices, including: 

  • Wearing protective eyewear to shield eyes from UV rays
  • Quitting smoking and avoiding secondhand smoke
  • Maintaining a balanced diet rich in antioxidants like vitamin C
  • Managing underlying medical conditions like diabetes
  • Wearing protective eyewear while using power tools or playing certain sports to protect your eyes from injury
  • Scheduling regular comprehensive eye exams, especially after age 40

If there is good news to be had about cataracts, it is this: unlike many eye diseases, vision loss due to cataracts can be restored. Cataracts can be fixed with surgery and, for many patients, they can become less dependent on glasses after cataract surgery is done.

Cataract surgery is one of the most common surgical procedures in the U.S.—approximately 3.5 million performed last year alone—with a 95 percent success rate and short recovery time. As an added bonus, a new study found that cataract surgery patients had a significantly reduced rate of hip fractures from falls.

As noted, regular eye exams are key to spotting cataracts. If found in the early stages, surgery may not be immediately necessary. You may be able to get by with a change to your prescription, using anti-glare glasses to drive, and amping up the wattage of the lighting in your home. However, if your vision is impaired to a degree that impacts your daily living and safety, make an appointment to talk to your eye doctor about surgery. If you’re concerned about the cost of potential surgery, you’ll be happy to learn that while Medicare doesn’t cover routine vision care, it does cover the diagnosis and treatment of cataracts, including cataract surgery.  

 

Erik Niemi, DO, is an ophthalmology specialist at Advanced Eyecare in Bennington, VT.

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Meet Dr. Disha Spath

Dr. Disha Spath, an internal medicine physician originally from Georgia, was excited to start a new position at Twin Rivers Medical, P.C., in Hoosick Falls, NY, on April 20th. But then COVID-19 struck. As practice appointments plummeted and the potential for a surge of COVID-19 patients rose, Dr. Spath volunteered to take a temporary assignment serving in-patients with SVMC’s Hospital Medicine Department.

SVMC: Already new to the health system, what was it like to have your plans change from practice-based medicine to hospital medicine so suddenly?
DS: Well, to be honest, it was a little scary given the times. I had to come to terms with the fact that I could possibly expose my family to SARS-CoV-2. My husband and I had some tough conversations and came up with a risk-mitigation strategy… [Then] I actually reached out to Trey, [the chief medical officer,] and volunteered to help out in the hospital. I've been a primary care physician recently, but I'm not too far removed from hospital medicine. In fact, I was already planning on picking up some per diem hospitalist work later this year. I just decided to move the timeline forward a bit to help with COVID-19.  This is what I'm trained for. I felt it was my duty to step up and help during the pandemic.  

SVMC: How has it been working with the hospitalists to treat both COVID and non-COVID patients?
DS: The hospitalists have been so kind and generous. They have really taken the time to bring me up to speed with the hospital and have been very gracious with training me on the computer system. I am really thankful that they have included me in their top-notch team. I'm also so very impressed by how involved and thoughtful the leadership is. The way the hospital leadership has ensured adequate PPE for staff and has created the workflows so quickly to deal with COVID-19 is truly inspiring.  

SVMC: What have you noticed or learned about the culture of the health system or the area?
DS: I am really struck by how everyone is so interconnected and how supportive the community is of its healthcare staff. It is very touching to see all the donations of homemade masks, skullcaps, and food to the hospital. I also love that the hospital staff seems to know their patients' home situations and their medical histories so well. 

SVMC: How do you expect your work at Twin Rivers will be affected by your having started your position at the hospital?  
DS: Yes, since hospitalists and primary care physicians often hand off patients, I'm really looking forward to building rapport with the hospitalists. I'm also hoping to meet the specialists I will be referring to. It will be helpful to have an insight into the workflow of the hospital when I refer patients for admission. And I'm already starting to meet some of our lovely patients in Hoosick Falls. Overall, I believe this will be a really positive thing for my work at Twin Rivers. I'm honored to join the area and I hope I can contribute positively to this special community.  

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