Cataract

WHAT IS A CATARACT

Cataract is an eye disease that causes a loss of transparency of the eye lens. The lens gradually become clouded and yellowish or greyish. The eye thus lacks sufficient light needed for creating a sharp image with correct color interpretation. Cataract gets worse over time and if not removed, it can turn into blindness.

In most cases, cataract occurs due to the natural ageing of the eye lens, but it can also develop earlier than in senior age. This happens, for example, in diabetes, rheumatism, or excessive consumption of alcohol. It may also occur as a result of trauma to the eye.

The most common symptoms of a cataract are:

• deterioration in the sharpness of vision,
• deterioration of the contrast sensitivity,
• double vision,
• reduced colour vision.

HOW TO GET RID OF A CATARACT

Drops or eye exercises don't have a mitigating effect on the disease, a conservative treatment therefore does not exist. Cataracts can be removed only by surgery. Surgery tends to be the first choice already at an early stage of the disease, in the case of delay there is a risk of to more severe pre-operative and post-operative complications.



Cataract surgery is a relatively simple surgery, annually performed on millions of people. During the surgery, the clouded lens is removed and replaced by a new, clear artificial lens. Our experienced surgeons use a diamond knife during the surgeries, which creates an about 2.2 mm wide cut at the edge of the cornea. Using an ultrasonic probe, they crush the clouded lens into small fragments, suck it out and then insert an artificial intraocular lens exactly according to the pre-operatively calculated diopter power. We use high-quality artificial lenses made of inert materials with an aspherical front surface, built-in UV filter, and protection from an early onset of secondary cataract.

The surgery is suitable for all those suffering from cataract, and it has many benefits:

• the procedure takes about 15 minutes and is painless - it takes place under local anaesthesia
• the surgery does not require hospitalization, you can go home after the surgery.
• recovery time is not long, you can return to a normal life within just a few days
• the quality of vision is already stable within three to four weeks.

WHO IS THE SURGERY SUITABLE FOR

Cataract surgery can be performed following a recommendation of an ophthalmologist. The surgery itself is preceded by a preoperative examination, where we determine what stage is your disease at and how it affects your vision.