Cataract is the opacification of the natural crystalline lens. This lens allows the parallel light rays to focus on the retina that are coming from an object that is placed at infinity. It is not necessarily synonymous with old age: it usually affects the ones at the age of fifty but some factors can anticipate its occurrence, such as in patients who are diabetic, undergoing chemotherapy, have prolonged use of drugs such as cortisone, serious eye injuries or other eye diseases.
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It can also occur due to excessive exposure to sunlight. The opacification of the crystalline also intervenes when focusing on nearby objects (accommodation) therefore, this defect of the crystalline lens is lost after replacement. The ability to accommodate also naturally weakens because of presbyopia after 50-55 years of age. Generally, cataract develops slowly without causing pain. It can occur in both eyes, although one eye is usually affected first before the other.
Symptoms Of Cataract
The most common symptom is blurred vision. It is as if we had a veil on the eye: it is useless to hurt the eyelids just to remove or wipe the eyeglasses thinking that there is something wrong with the pair! It becomes more difficult to distinguish objects placed in bright environments and if we are subjected to intense light (dazzle), we experience a feeling of discomfort (photophobia). In addition, halos around light sources may appear. The colors seem less lively and in many cases, myopia occurs (or worsens). When the opacification of the crystalline becomes very dense, we are no longer able to distinguish objects. In very advanced stages, we may have the total loss of sight but it can be fully recovered after surgery. Having identified the symptoms, it will be the task of the eye specialist, after careful eye examination, to evaluate the actual conditions.
Cataract Care: Removal Of The Crystalline
When the lens is opaque, the vision becomes blurred and needs to be replaced with an artificial lens with characteristics similar to the natural one. Cataract surgery can be performed regardless of the degree of opacification of the crystalline especially when it prevents the patient from performing normal daily activities. After the surgery, the chances of getting visual improvements are excellent (more than 97%).
The removal of the crystalline is a technique that corrects not only cataract but also other visual defects such as myopia, hypermetropia, and, more recently with the introduction of toric lenses, even astigmatism. The operation involves extracting the transparent or partially opaque lens of the eye (crystalline) and simultaneously introducing an artificial lens (IOL) capable of correcting the defect.
Femto Cataract – Femto Laser
The exclusive Ziemer LDV Z8 Femto Laser is running at our clinic, which guarantees the operator the ultimate efficiency and rapidity of execution. The patient should not be moved from one room to another, but all the surgery is performed in the same room to ensure greater patient comfort and safety.
Benefits Of Femto Cataract
The main complications of traditional cataract surgery are the reduction in the density of corneal endothelial cells with the risk of loss of corneal transparency (endothelial corneal defecation) and unclear capsulotomies that make it more difficult to properly position the intraocular lens and achieve the ideal visual postoperative result. Cataract surgery performed with the femto laser allows to significantly reduce the ultrasonic energy and the consequent loss of endothelial cells by virtue of pre-fragmentation of the nucleus and always guarantees perfect capsulotomies that allow the correct implant of the intraocular lens. This is of particular importance in the case of the implant of high-tech intraocular lenses (so-called premium lenses) that allow the correction of spherical defects (myopia and hypermetropia), and also the correction of astigmatism and presbyopia, significantly reducing the need for the use of glasses from afar and close after surgery.
Read the new cataract care solution: Trifocal PanOptix IOL
Words on the technological evolution of materials
The technological evolution of materials and the refinement of more and more methods, supported by high-quality equipment, enable the eye specialist to tackle and correct any type of visual defect. For example, consider astigmatism: the specialist can correct it either with the excimer laser, toric ICLs, or the removal of the opaque crystalline. Thanks to specific lenses such as the AcrySof® IQ Toric, it is possible to correct cataracts even in the presence of pre-existing astigmatism, that ensures better visual quality without the need to wear spectacles after surgery.
