Cataracts

A cataract is a clouding of the lens in your eye and can develop in one or both eyes. The lens is normally clear and sits behind the iris – the coloured part of the eye. The lens helps focus light to produce a sharp image on to the retina at the back of the eye and changes shape to allow you to see close objects. A cataract acts like a frosted glass coating that scatters light, causing blurring and lack of clarity.

What are the symptoms of Cataracts?

Cataracts are painless and usually cause a gradual worsening of sight. The main symptoms are:

• Blurring: Your vision may become misty or blurry so that you cannot see details at a distance, or your glasses seem scratched and dirty.
• Dazzled by lights: You may find that you have poor vision in bright light, suffer from glare, and that bright lights such as car headlights are more blinding than usual.
• Double vision: You may start to notice double vision for either close or distance objects.
• Changes in colour vision: You may notice that colours appear faded or washed out.

We recommend that you have an eye test every two years, unless your Optometrist advises otherwise.