Blog post by: Eye Physicians of Long Beach
Is your vision blurry or hazy? Does it feel as though you’re looking at the world through a foggy window? Cataracts could be to blame. When poor vision from cataracts limits everyday activities, cataract surgery can help you see everything around you through clear eyes again.
Keep reading to learn more about 6 ways cataract surgery improves your daily life.
What is a Cataract?
A cataract is the clouding of the natural lens of the eye, which is usually clear. It forms when proteins inside the lens disintegrate and clump together, clouding the lens.
Cataracts often happen due to aging. But other factors such as certain medical conditions, some medications, genetics, eye injuries, past eye surgeries, and lifestyle can also cause them.
Early on, a cataract typically doesn’t affect your vision. But as it continues to grow over time, it can cloud more of your lens, causing blurred vision and other symptoms, including:
- Dim or clouded vision
- Difficulty seeing at night
- Light and glare sensitivity
- Seeing halos
- Colors appearing washed out or yellow
- Double vision in one eye
- Regular changes in contact lens or eyeglass prescription
- Need for brighter lighting for close-up activities like reading
If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms of a cataract, it’s time to see an ophthalmologist.
What is Cataract Surgery?
Cataract surgery is the only effective way to get rid of cataracts permanently. Once cataracts make it challenging to see and perform your day-to-day activities, your ophthalmologist will recommend having them removed.
During cataract surgery, your ophthalmologist will extract the cloudy lens and replace it with a synthetic lens called an intraocular lens. The new intraocular lens (IOL) helps you see clearly again.
The quick and effective procedure takes approximately 10 to 20 minutes to complete, and you can go home the same day. While most cataract surgery patients notice a drastic improvement in their vision within several days, full recovery takes about four weeks.
How Will Cataract Surgery Improve Your Daily Life?
Cataract surgery can enhance your everyday life in many ways, including:
1. Carry Out Daily Activities with Less Hassle
As cataracts progress, activities that were once effortless, such as cooking, running errands, climbing stairs, and reading, can become more challenging due to declining vision. Cataract surgery can significantly improve your ability to perform routine activities by restoring sharper, clearer vision. Following your cataract procedure, you can read the menu, medication labels, and books, use the computer, and do household chores without struggling to see.
2. Experience Greater Freedom from Glasses or Contact Lenses
If you depend on visual aids to see, you know how cumbersome and inconvenient they can be. Cataract surgery with a premium IOL can significantly reduce or eliminate the need for visual aids altogether.
Unlike a standard IOL that corrects vision at only one distance, premium IOLs such as the PanOptix, Vivity, or Light Adjustable Lens can address multiple visual concerns. They can correct astigmatism, farsightedness, and nearsightedness, and improve contrast sensitivity and depth perception at the time of cataract surgery, delivering superior visual outcomes.
After your cataract procedure with a premium IOL, you may no longer require contacts or glasses for most activities. This means going about your life unencumbered by visual aids.
Premium IOLs are not covered by insurance. However, patients find that the long-term benefits they offer are well worth the out-of-pocket costs.
3. Enrich Color Perception
As cataracts worsen over time, the cloudy lens becomes less transparent and can develop a brownish or yellow tint, causing colors to appear dull and yellow. But because this change is usually gradual, most people don’t recognize how much their color vision has changed until after cataract surgery.
The procedure enhances color perception by removing the cloudy lens that had developed a brown or yellow hue and implanting a clear IOL in its place. Many cataract surgery patients are surprised at how much brighter and more vivid colors appear after their procedures.
Whether you’re reading, watching TV, or shopping, daily experiences will become more delightful after your cataract procedure.
4. Increased Mobility and Safety
Deteriorating vision due to cataracts can make navigating stairs, curbs, uneven ground, and unfamiliar environments quite difficult. Cataracts impair depth perception and contrast sensitivity.
This can make it harder to judge how near or far things are or see objects that don’t stand out clearly from a background of a similar color or shade, increasing your risk of slips, trips, and falls.
Other cataract symptoms like cloudy vision and increased sensitivity to glare and light reduce visibility, further affecting your mobility both indoors and outdoors. Cataract surgery significantly lowers your risk of falls and injuries, allowing you to navigate the world more confidently.
It restores clear vision, increases contrast sensitivity and depth perception, and eliminates visual disturbances like light and glare sensitivity, enhancing your mobility and safety.
5. Renewed Independence
Impaired vision from cataracts can compromise your independence. You may have to rely on others if you can’t see well enough to cook, read medicine bottles, drive, run errands, do household chores, or move around safely.
Cataract surgery will restore your vision and ability to live independently. Whether it’s going for a walk, loading the dishwasher, using your phone, or visiting family, you’ll be able to complete regular activities without relying on others for assistance.
6. Enjoy Your Favorite Pastime
When you’re struggling with declining vision due to cataracts, you may find yourself avoiding hobbies that once brought you joy. With cataract surgery, you can return to the activities you love the most without the limitations of poor eyesight. Whether it’s bird watching, gardening, hiking, tennis, or golfing, it’ll be easier to enjoy your favorite pastimes with crisper, sharper vision.
Restore Clear, Healthy Vision with Cataract Surgery
Cloudy vision from cataracts doesn’t have to hold you back from living your best life. By having cataract surgery at Eye Physicians of Long Beach, you’ll be able to see clearly again and improve your quality of life.
Are cataracts affecting your vision? Schedule your appointment at Eye Physicians of Long Beach in Long Beach, CA, today to find out if it’s time for cataract surgery.
