What you need to know about cataracts
Learn more about cataracts and your treatment options
Who can we help?
We do our best to understand your needs and aims so we can offer you the best vision correction options
What do patients with cataracts experience?
The answer is simple – they feel limited and not in charge of their life
Your vision has become blurred and cloudy
A cataract is the clouding of your eyes natural lens. The lens is just behind the pupil of your eye, and it helps to make a clear image on your retina. Usually, this lens is crystal clear.
As a cataract develops, the lens becomes increasingly milky, causing a greenish cloudiness. It can cause a glare in bright lights and change in the focus of the eyes. Eventually, the sight does not improve with a change of glasses.
The only way to treat a cataract is with surgery.
Cataracts can affect your mood
Cataracts develop slowly. Your vision deteriorates, and colours begin to fade.
This creeping change can make it feel as though your life is shrinking. As your daily routine becomes more challenging, it is not uncommon to feel frustrated and down.
You feel vulnerable
Your vision is critical in keeping you safe. As it deteriorates, glare from oncoming headlights and street lights can make you feel unsafe driving at night.
It is also more common to fall and injure yourself with cataracts.
As your eyesight decreases, your dependency increases
It can be embarrassing when you start to lose your independence. You don’t want to burden family and friends, but you find yourself relying on them more and more.
Life is for living
After cataract surgery, your natural vision is restored. Your independence and freedom comes flooding back and you can do the things you love without having to reach for your glasses or lenses first.
Here’s what Londoners say after eye treatment
We are proud to hear we make a meaningful difference to your life
Mr Bolger suggested having cataract surgery on both eyes on the same day and whilst I had concerns, I decided to go ahead. The day after I was able to remove the eye pads and I had perfect vision. I have told many people that it was the best thing I have ever spent my money on. I have needed spectacles or contact lenses since I was 9 years old and now have 20/20 vision with no assistance from spectacles. I would highly recommend the My-iClinic.
Double cataract removal in September 2018. The total experience from initial consultation to operation was most efficient. The result so far has been exactly as described in the brochure, I’ve never seen so well. I had glasses from just over 1 year old till now, (80+), what a difference!
Just discharged after having monovision cataract surgery in both eyes I am delighted with the outcome. I can see both near and far and have been able to dispense with my contact lenses and glasses. I have been well looked after from my first contact. Mr Bolger was very professional and reassuring and I felt at all times that I was in good hands. I cannot fault the whole experience including the charges, which having researched various alternatives, proved to be very reasonable.
I had high confidence in the team working at My-iClinic due to their attentive and thorough end-to-end service, from the reception desk to the operation theatre. I have recommended the practice already to multiple friends, family members and colleagues. (And my eyesight is better than I even hoped for!)
Absolutely fantastic. I was very nervous having my laser treatment for narrow angle glaucoma. The Consultant was wonderful, caring and very understanding. She talked me through the procedure and was extremely patient. Definitely recommend My-iClinic.
Cataracts explained
In these toggles we explain what you need to know about cataracts
Which of these best describes you?
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Compare with other relevant eye conditions
Eye conditions are frequently misunderstood, so here’s a quick overview of the ones we most commonly treat
Astigmatism
Astigmatism is caused by abnormalities in the cornea and the lens.
If you have astigmatism, the front of your eye is not a perfectly round shape like a football. Instead, it is more oval like a rugby ball. This gives the front of your eye an asymmetric curvature, so light scatters as it goes into your eye. This produces a jagged and slightly distorted image. Learn more about astigmatism here.
Treatments for astigmatism
- Laser eye surgery
- Refractive lens exchange
Cataracts
A cataract is the clouding of your natural eye lens.
The natural lens is just behind the pupil of your eye, and it helps to make a clear image on your retina. Usually, this lens is crystal clear.
As a cataract develops, the lens becomes increasingly milky, causing a greenish cloudiness. It may also cause a glare in bright lights and change in the focus of the eyes, needing a frequent replacement of your glasses. Eventually, the sight does not improve with a change of glasses. Find more information on cataracts here.
Treatments for cataract
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a condition that causes the pressure inside the eye to be too high. If left untreated, this excessive pressure can damage the nerve that carries the vision to the brain; in severe cases, this can lead to blindness. Learn more about glaucoma here.
Treatments for glaucoma
- Eye drops
- Eye surgery
Hyperopia / Long-sightedness
Long-sighted – also known as hypermetropia or hyperopia – is when you cannot see things up close. It’s exactly the opposite problem to short-sightedness. Learn more about long-sightedness here.
Treatments for long-sightedness
- Contacts
- Eye glasses
- Laser eye surgery
- Refractive lens exchange
Keratoconus
Keratoconus is an eye condition that affects the shape of your eye. Rather than your eye growing in a sphere shape, it grows in a cone-shape causing your cornea to progressively thin and bulge.
Keratoconus can cause significant visual impairment, or it can go unnoticed, and your vision remains normal. Learn more about keratoconus here.
Treatments for keratoconus
- Corneal cross-linking
- Contacts
- Eye glasses
Lazy eyes
The usual cause of having a lazy eye is when the eye is very out of focus as a child. This leads to the brain ignoring the image from that eye, and the brain doesn’t upload the software necessary to analyse the vision. Learn more about lazy eye here.
Treatment
The treatment of amblyopia or lazy eye is to patch the good eye in order to force the lazy eye to work harder.
Treatment is only effective in children under the age of seven.
Myopia / Short-sightedness
If you are short-sighted (also known as myopic) you can see things that are up close but can struggle to see things further away. This is because light entering the eye is focused in front of the retina when it should focus on the retina. It focuses too soon. Learn more about short-sightedness here.
Treatments for short-sightedness
- Laser eye surgery
- Refractive lens exchange
- Intraocular contact lenses (ICL)
Presbyopia
Usually, between the ages of about 45 and 55, the autofocus mechanism in our eye gradually fails. When this happens, we have to increasingly rely on glasses to read computer screens or printed matter. Learn more about presbyopia here.
Treatments for presbyopia
- Reading glasses
- Refractive lens exchange
- PRESBYOND
Links to more information about lens replacement…
Educate yourself further by reading the links below
About the experts
Meet the My-iClinic founders, Mr John Bolger and Ms Bola Odufuwa. Two consultant eye surgeons who made it their life goal to make your life better.
