Cataract
What is a cataract?
Cataract is a common age-related condition in which the lens of the eye becomes cloudy. This results in gradually decreasing far and near vision. A clouded lens can cause serious visual disturbances in everyday life. Such factors as advanced age, diabetes, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, cortisone use, previous eye infections or eye injuries increase the risk of cataract.
What does an eye with a cataract look like?
The natural lens of the eye is located inside the eye, in the posterior chamber. Normally this is crystal clear, so the image that enters the eye is projected onto the retina.
With cataract, the clumping together of proteins makes the lens cloudy. This reduces vision. If your vision decreases too much, you need eye surgery.
How can a cataract be treated?
The only possible treatment for cataract is surgery in which the patient's own lens is replaced with an implanted one. The implanted lens cannot be rejected.
There are three types of lenses that can be used:
- Monofocal lens implants
- Toric lens implants
- Multifocal lens implants
Which lens is best for you is determined during the preliminary examination.
3 types of lens implants for cataract
Monofocal
Monofocal lens implants correct distance vision. Usually, after the procedure, only a slight hyperopic deficit is left, for which glasses are not necessary. One must still wear reading glasses for near vision. But these glasses are less strong than those used before the procedure.
Toric
In addition to correcting the total diopter strength of the eye, cylindrical or toric lens implants also correct astigmatism. The implant lens compensates for the abnormal shape of the anterior of the eye that causes astigmatism.
So, you no longer need glasses to see far after the procedure. You do continue to use reading glasses.
Multifocal
Multifocal (or trifocal) lenses correct both far and near vision. As a result, the use of reading glasses after the operation is no longer necessary. Surveys show that patient satisfaction after a multifocal implant is very high.
Katrien O.
You get proper guidance; everything is made very clear and after the initial conversation and examination the surgery could be scheduled in very shortly after. I can only recommend this for 100%.