Nobody waits for the cataract to be «ripe» any more. The yardstick is different: how much it is getting in your way day to day.
A cataract is the clouding of the crystalline lens, the eye's own natural lens. It is a normal part of ageing: almost everyone develops one if they live long enough.
The rule has changed
For years the advice was to wait until the cataract was «ripe». That held true when surgery was more aggressive. With today's phacoemulsification —micro incision, anaesthetic drops, around eight minutes— waiting achieves nothing, and a very hard cataract is technically harder to remove.
The criterion now is functional: you operate when your sight is stopping you doing what you want to do.
Signs worth a consultation
- Driving at night has become uncomfortable: headlights dazzle and signs are harder to read.
- You changed glasses recently and already cannot see well with them.
- Colours look washed out or yellowish.
- You need far more light to read than you did a year ago.
- You see a kind of haze, or halos around lights.
- You did not pass the eyesight test for your driving licence.
What the operation involves
It is day surgery: you come in and walk out the same day. The clouded lens is removed and an intraocular lens, calculated for your eye, is put in its place. If you are also short-sighted, long-sighted, astigmatic or need reading glasses, that lens can correct it at the same time.
Dr Juan Cano was among the first surgeons to introduce phacoemulsification at Badalona Municipal Hospital, and has been operating on lens and cornea ever since.
A full eye examination will tell you in a single visit whether what you have is a cataract, presbyopia or something else.
We are at 160 Carrer de Bolívia, Monday to Friday.