Cataract – What It Is and What Are Its Causes

Cataract is the clouding in the eye lens as we age up. These clouds develop slowly and over time may cause full blindness to patient. So the treatment of cataract is necessary as soon as possible. As cataract increases, the vision of eye lessens, because the cloud stops the light to pass through the lens and reach the retina. Cataracts are divided into four categories on the basis of its cause – Radiation, secondary, congenital and traumatic cataracts.

Different types of cataracts

  • Secondary cataract: These are cataracts that are formed after surgery due to glaucoma, due to diabetes or due to use of some steroids.
  • Traumatic cataract: cataract caused by an eye injury.
  • Congenital cataract: Some cataracts can be genetic and children may be born with small cataracts. But they don’t affect the vision, and if they do then the eye lens should be replaced as soon as possible.
  • Radiation cataract: Exposure to radiation can also cause cataract.

Symptoms of cataracts

  • Yellowing or fading of colors
  • Halos or glowing around the light
  • Double vision in only one eye
  • Less or no vision at night
  • Eyes become sensitive to bright light
  • Dimmed or blurred vision
  • Frequent changes in corrective lenses

Surgical treatments for cataracts

If you have any of the aforementioned symptoms then reach your doctor for a test and confirmation of cataract. There is only one treatment available currently for cataract, and that is to replace the affected lens surgically. This surgery is done under a local anesthetic. In surgery doctors replace the affected lens with an artificial lens called intraocular lens (IOL). Patient recovers from the surgery in one day but antibiotic and anti-inflammatory eye drops need to be used for two weeks after the surgery.

After the surgery, in the initial weeks, avoid bending or exercising, heavy lifts, dirt and grime that may enter in eye and don’t splash water into eyes.

Complications after surgery

The complications after the surgery are rare but the patient may suffer from glaucoma, a severe eye infection called endophthalmitis or a detached retina. If you are noticing any pain, redness or inflammation in the affected eye then the surgeon should be contacted immediately to diagnose the cause and treat it.

Around 95% of these surgeries are successful and patients show improvement in vision after the surgery. The rate of complication is very low during these surgeries.

Some Surefire Remedies to Treat Eye Strain

Have you ever faced discomfort in your eyes? Do you know discomfort and irritation of the eyes are the symptoms of Eye Strain? You can experience eye strain when you focus for long, which causes your eye muscles to become over used and exhausted. Due to excess strain your eye sight can become blurred and weak. You can suffer from weak eye vision just because of this condition. This problem mostly faces by computer operating employees those who work 8 to 9 hours in front of computers.

Eye strain is a prevalent condition and commonly found in a large section of people these days. Due to prolonged working on a computer, watching TV for extended hours and many other activities can make your eyes lose focus and get fatigued. Severe eye strain can lead to various other health problems like short term neck and head aches to long term problems like Myopia.

According to various eye experts many times eye strain is the root cause of severe headache. That is why the causes of this problem have to be identified.

Reasons of Eye Strain-

  • Fluorescent lighting
  • Too much use of computer
  • Low levels of light
  • Glare
  • Brightness
  • Fatigue
  • Tiredness
  • Bad viewing angle
  • Stress
  • Low levels of screen contrast
  • Poor posture
  • Excessive consumption of alcohol and drug

With these homemade remedies of eye strain you can prevent this problem:

  • Cold water is best to stop eye strain just splash it within your eyes.
  • Take ice cubes and apply on your eyelids it will definitely provide instant relief.
  • Wrap the ice cubes in a thin cotton cloth and apply this ice pack on your eyelids.
  • Pour few drops of eucalyptus oil into the water and boil it and take steam. Its heating effects will sooth your eyes.
  • Apply the cucumber slices and tea bags over the eyes to relieve the sore feeling.
  • Drink plenty of water because enough water may prevent the dehydration in your body. Lack of fluid may lead to most of the health problems and eye strain is one of them.
  • Put out contact lenses before sleep.
  • You may massage your eyes in a circular manner because it boosts the flow of circulation of the eye muscles.

Regular use of these aforementioned remedies may prevent the eye strain. But always keep in mind eyes are very sensitive organ. So before doing anything please contact an efficient eye specialist.

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