What is a Cataract?
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Our eye is like a camera. The lens focuses the light rays coming through the pupil onto the retina or back side of the eye. The different parts of the retina collect this light and send a massage to our brain then we can see.
For perfect vision the lens should be clear, so that light can pass through it and reach the retina. When the lens becomes cloudy or opaque, light can not pass through it and vision becomes dim or blurred. A cloudy lens is called cataract.
Symptoms:
- Sensitive to Sunlight (Photophobia).
- Cloudy, fuzzy, foggy, or filmy vision.
- Difficulty in seeing at night or in dim light.
- Monocular diplopia.
- Problems seeing shapes against a background or the difference between shades of colors.
- Seeing Rainbow halos around lights.
Causes and risk factor of Cataract:
- With age.
- Diabetes.
- Glaucoma.
- Eye inflammation (Uveitis).
- Family history of cataract.
- Eye Injury.
- Infection.
- Congenital or by birth.
- Exposure to ultraviolet light (Sunlight).
- Long-term use of corticosteroids (taken by mouth for skin or any other systemic diseases).
- Radiation exposure (X-ray technicians, airline pilots have a higher risk of developing cataract than non-pilots and that the cause may be exposure to cosmic radiation.).
- Smoking
- Surgery for another eye problem.