Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health
Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health

Cataracts, Glaucoma, Macular degeneration, Night vision loss

Degenerative eye diseases

What are cataracts?

Symptoms of cataracts

Causes of cataracts and other degenerative eye diseases

Prevention of cataracts and other degenerative eye diseases

Treatment of cataracts

References

Degenerative eye diseases

Degenerative diseases of the eye including glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration and loss of night vision. They all have a number of common causes, which are pretty much the same as the Causes of cataracts listed below.

Glaucoma is caused by increased pressure on the optic nerves from increased pressure inside the eyes, because fluid flows into the eyes but drains out too slowly. Glaucoma causes loss of vision in both eyes, most notably gradual loss of peripheral vision. Other symptoms of glaucoma include eye pain, halos around lights and nausea that accompanies severe eye pain.

Macular degeneration is the deterioration of the macula, the light-sensitive layer in the centre of the retina which controls central or straight-ahead vision. Early symptoms of macular degeneration include blurred vision, the need for additional light when reading, inability to recognize people until they are close and the presence of a blurred spot in the centre of the vision. The risk of macular degeneration increases with age. Likely causes of macular degeneration (in addition to those listed below) include high blood pressure, obesity and lack of exercise.

What are cataracts?

A cataract is when the lens of the eye goes cloudy or opaque and causes vision impairment. Cataracts can affect one or both eyes.

As cataracts progress they can affect your ability to function and live normally by impairing driving, reading and recognizing faces, and increasing the risk of falling, accidents and depression. (1)

Cataracts affect more than 50% of Americans over the age of 65 years and 68% of those aged over 80. (3) Cataracts cause 51% of all cases of blindness and 33% of visual impairment worldwide, rising to nearly 60% of blindness in parts of Africa and South America.

Symptoms of cataracts

Symptoms often develop slowly and at first may not be obvious.

Causes of cataracts and other degenerative eye diseases

Prevention of cataracts and other degenerative eye diseases

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Treatment of cataracts

Surgery. After cataracts are well established the only effective treatment is surgery. The operation removes the cloudy lens and replaces it with an artificial lens. Cataract surgery is usually day surgery (outpatient surgery) done under local anaesthetic that takes 30 to 45 minutes. You should be able to go home on the same day. About 90% of patients enjoy a corrected vision of 20/40 or better after surgery. (4)

In more developed countries, a trend to overuse cataract surgery has led to disappointing results because cataract surgery can only meet expectations when significant functional impairment due to cataracts exists before the surgery. (5)

References

1. Gimbel HV, Dardzhikova AA. Consequences of waiting for cataract surgery. Current Opinion in Ophthalmology, January 2011. 22 (1): 28-30. doi:10.1097/icu.0b013e328341425d. PMID 21076306. S2CID 205670956.

2. Chew EY, SanGiovanni JP, Ferris FL, Wong WT, Agron E, Clemons TE, Sperduto R, Danis R, Chandra SR, Blodi BA, Domalpally A, Elman MJ, Antoszyk AN, Ruby AJ, Orth D, Bressler SB, Fish GE, Hubbard GB, Klein ML, Friberg TR, Rosenfeld PJ, Toth CA, Bernstein P. Lutein/zeaxanthin for the treatment of age-related cataract: AREDS2 randomized trial report no. 4. Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2) Research Group. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2013 Jul;131(7):843-50. doi: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2013.4412. PMID: 23645227; PMCID: PMC6774801.

3. Cataract Data and Statistics. National Eye Institute. nei.nih.gov. 2019-11-18.

4. Bollinger KE, Langston RH. What can patients expect from cataract surgery? (March 2008). Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. 75 (3): 193-96, 199-200.

5. Black N, Browne J, van der Meulen J, Jamieson L, Copley L, Lewsey J. Is there overutilisation of cataract surgery in England? (January 2009). The British Journal of Ophthalmology. 93 (1): 13-17.

6. Payne A J, Kaja S, Sabates N R, Koulen P. A case for neuroprotection in ophthalmology: developments in translational research. (2013). Mo Med, 110(5), 429-36. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24279196/.