Take Back Your Life with Better Vision After Cataracts
April 16, 2024
Cataracts can be debilitating. While one of the most common age-related eye conditions, cataracts can become advanced enough to significantly affect your ability to see clearly.
Luckily, there is a way to restore all vision lost from cataracts and regain your life by having cataract surgery. If you have cataracts that affect your quality of life, you should consider cataract surgery.
Keep reading to find out how to take back your life with better vision after cataracts with cataract surgery!
What are Cataracts?
Cataracts form on your eye's natural lens. They occur when the lens, which is supposed to be clear, becomes clouded.
The cloudiness itself is what's referred to as a cataract. Although the reason why cataracts form is still unknown, they are typically a result of the aging process.
However, your risk of cataracts increases once you're over 40. They start developing in your forties or fifties, but you may not realize you have them initially because the symptoms are so mild.
Cataracts tend to form very slowly over time, usually over many years. But eventually, they can lead to significant visual problems.
The main symptoms are blurry vision, glare, halos, light sensitivity, and poor night vision. The combination of all these symptoms can make it very hard to see.
Eventually, you'll notice significant visual impairment, making it far more challenging to do what you love or even complete everyday tasks. That's where cataract surgery comes in.
What is Cataract Surgery?
Cataract surgeons recommend that you have cataract surgery when your cataracts begin to affect your quality of life. Can you no longer go hiking with your friends because you're worried about your vision due to cataracts?
Is doing even simple chores like washing the dishes, doing laundry, or making yourself dinner harder than they should be because your eyesight is not as good as it once was? These could be signs to consider cataract surgery.
Cataracts take years to develop and mature enough that cataract surgery, which is the only treatment, is necessary. But once they make it hard to see well enough to go about your life, it's time to start discussing cataract surgery.
Cataract surgery removes your cataracts entirely by removing the natural lens where they've formed. Your natural lens is then replaced with an artificial lens called an intraocular lens (IOL).
IOLs come in different varieties, and some can even help you see better than you could before developing cataracts, making them a worthy investment!
Ready for cataract surgery?
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IOL Options
There are many kinds of IOLs. Maryland Eye Associates offers these IOLs to our cataract patients:
Monofocal IOLs
Monofocal lenses are the standard lens option. They are also the only IOL included with the cost of cataract surgery, meaning they are usually also covered by insurance.
They can help you see well either up close or far away, but you'll need glasses to see at the opposite distance. Some patients may choose something called monovision, which is more rare.
Monovision involves having one lens put in one eye to see up close and another lens placed in your other eye to see far away, resulting in good enough vision between the two distances. However, monovision is only suitable for some.
It also doesn't always offer the clearest possible vision after cataract surgery.
Multifocal IOLs
Multifocal IOLs are premium lenses. Premium lenses have an out-of-pocket cost, but they can help you see at more distances after cataract surgery.
Multifocal IOLs are lenses divided into rings, alternating between two refractive powers: one to see up close and one to see far away. Your eye automatically looks through the part of the lens that best helps you focus on what you're seeing.
Trifocal IOLs
Trifocal IOLs are similar to multifocals, but instead of having two refractive powers, they have three: one to see up close, one to see far away, and one to see at a middle distance. These three refractive powers allow patients to see very clearly up close and at an intermediate distance.
Trifocals also often significantly reduce or eliminate the need for reading glasses and other visual aids.
Toric IOLs
Toric IOLs are the only intraocular lenses designed to correct astigmatism. Toric IOLs are also available in other models, meaning if you want a multifocal IOL or trifocal IOL but have astigmatism, you can still experience one of these fantastic premium lenses and greatly improved vision.
Before cataract surgery, you and your eye doctor will talk about your visual needs, lifestyle, goals, and desires after removing your cataracts to choose the right IOL for you. But whatever you choose, your life will be much better after cataract surgery!
Regain Your Independence
After you have cataract surgery, you can go out on your own again. When you have advanced cataracts, it can be hard to even get out of the house, especially if you have to drive at night due to glare and halos around street lights and from oncoming traffic.
But after cataract surgery, you'll be able to drive again after dark and go more places on your own!
Learn More About Cataract Surgery
Schedule a Cataract Evaluation
Feel Safer
Advanced cataracts often lead to injury due to tripping over unseen obstacles or running into things. Many people with cataracts end up too afraid to do anything, even in their own homes, for fear of injury.
But after cataract surgery, you can feel safe to relax in and out of your home!
Pursue Your Passions
Cataracts can take so much away from you, including your favorite hobbies and activities. But you can get back to the things you love after cataract surgery.
Thanks to a premium IOL, you can find new joy in your passions! Better vision and reduced dependence on glasses will help you be more active indoors and outdoors. You can enjoy your creative hobbies like painting, pottery and sports like pickleball and golf!
Don't wait any longer to get your life back. Take a step towards better vision and a better life by requesting your cataract evaluation at Maryland Eye Associates in Prince Frederick, MD, now! Isn't it time to see everything again?