What It’s Like To Get Cataracts

The majority of people will unfortunately suffer from cataracts at some point in their life, but what is it like to have them and how does cataract surgery help?

First things first, what is a cataract?

A cataract is a clouding of your eye’s lens. You can watch the below video to understand the difference between a person’s vision with cataracts versus without.

Vision with cataracts

You can see that the image becomes much foggier and less sharp. It can be compared to looking out through steamed up glasses or how things appear on a foggy day.

When cataracts occur, a person may notice that colours are much more dull and bright lights can be difficult to handle.

While cataracts don’t tend to cause a person pain, adjusting to these vision changes can be quite uncomfortable.

Provided cataracts aren’t yet severe or in both eyes, it shouldn’t affect a person’s ability to drive. If it is affecting driving, it is very important to seek the attention of an eye doctor, even more so for people who drive for a living.

Treating Cataracts With Cataract Surgery

Many people find that they can adjust to mild cataracts with changes to their glasses or by making adjustment to the lighting in their home.

On the other hand, a lot of people find that cataracts are severely impacting their vision and lifestyle and so they require a method of eradicating them.

Cataract surgery is a common way of treating cataracts. The procedure restores vision by implanting an artificial lens. In British Columbia, many people can have this surgery under the BC Health Plan. Wait lists, however, can be lengthy and put many people off. At BoydVision we offer private cataract surgery at our laser eye surgery centre in Burnaby. From initial consultation to surgery, the wait can be as short as just a couple of weeks.

If you’d like to find out whether cataract surgery is something you should be considering, contact our cataract surgery customer support team to schedule in a free consultation with our eye surgeon, Dr. Boyd.