The cataract is the loss of transparency of the crystalline, a lens located behind the pupil, whose function is to focus sharply on objects.
With the passing of the years or occasionally, for some illness, the crystalline loses its natural transparency and becomes an opaque lens. A cataract, mild or advanced, will depend on the smaller or greater loss of transparency of the crystalline and, consequently, the visual quality is affected. The good news is that this problem has a solution.
The cataract can occur at any age, however they tend to be more common over 60.
There are children who are born with cataract caused either by hereditary factors or viral disease during pregnancy; others have cataract at a precocious stage due to metabolic diseases like diabetes. It could also be associated to severe myopia and ocular trauma.
What is the treatment for cataracts?
The treatment is fundamentally surgical, which the latest modern technique is the phacoemulsification, a safe and efficient procedure. It consists on the removal of the opaque lens and its replacement by an artificial intraocular lens (intraocular implant) placed in the same space than the crystalline ,allowing the patient to recover the vision.
The operation is carried out, generally, under local or topical anesthesia and as an outpatient; this means, the same day of the surgery the patient can go home.
Techniques of artificial lens implant – Premium Lens
When the cataract is removed, the eye loses its ability to focus as a result the implant of a new lens is required. The modern implants, soft and aspherical can be rolled up as a cylinder to be implanted in the eye through the same small incision made for cataract remotion. Eliminating large incisions impacts a lot on the final visual quality by reducing the induced astigmatism.
Refractive possibilities:
Phaco-Refractive Surgery – iPhaco.
Patients with cataract, with previous refractive defect like myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism, have an additional advantage, since upon being operated and replacing the opaque crystalline for an artificial one, they now can compensate their preexistent defects.
For patients with astigmatism, toric lenses are being used to correct this refractive problem. If they have already been operated with conventional intraocular lenses, laser can be used to eliminate previous astigmatism.
Furthermore. presbyopia can also be corrected with the new multifocal lenses.
When is surgery appropriate?
Years ago there was a concept that affirmed that the cataract had to be “mature” before being operated. Nowadays, however, with modern surgery, the situation is exactly the opposite: the more recent is the cataract, the easier will be the operation, and much simpler will be the after care.
The phacoemulsification of the cataract ( modern cataract surgery in which the eye’s internal lens is emulsified with an ultrasonic hand piece, and aspirated from the eye) under topical anesthesia, only with drops, and the implant of an artificial foldable soft lens, which passes through a 3.5 mm incision ,is the most modern and safe solution for this condition.
The percentage rate of success for cataract surgery is extremely high, practically without complications and with a brief recovery time: the patient is able to return to its normal activities rapidly.
