MYTHS & FACTS! in CATARACT: By Utsav Eye Clinic
Myth: Cataract is an old age problem
Fact: Most cataracts are senile but can occur at any age. They can also be congenital or caused by steroid intake, injury, diabetes or eye inflammations.
Myth: Cataract can be prevented by medicines, diet, eye exercise or yoga/Cataract can be cured by eye drops, diet or yoga.
Fact: There is no prevention or medical cure for cataracts. The only definitive treatment is cataract surgery. To your surprise, some early cataracts may never progress and may require no treatment if they are not causing any problem in the vision.
Myth: Cataract surgery should be delayed and done only when it matures or ripens.
Fact: The best time to get the surgery done is when you start having early vision problems. There is no point in delaying the surgery too much as the ultrasonic system works faster and is safer on softer cataracts than the hard or mature ones.
Myth: Is it true that cataracts can be removed with lasers without an incision? Or the complete surgery is bladeless and doe with laser only?
Fact: There is no surgery possible without an incision. A cataract is opacity or clouding of the natural lens, which is removed by ultrasonic fragmentation of cataract into tiny pieces by a phaco probe and sucked through a small incision (2.2mm). At present, we are using the Femto laser-bladeless technique of operating cataracts. This technique creates incisions, then the circular opening of the anterior capsule and partial nucleus fragments, which is further followed by routine phacoemulsification with the insertion of the foldable intraocular lens. Hence, laser assists in few steps of phaco surgery but does not completely replace it.
Utsav Eye Clinic
Dr. Anand Kumar
Utsav Eye Clinic: Eye Clinic in Kharghar | Eye Specialist Doctor
