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How To Prevent Cataracts: Simple Tips Anyone Can Use
Cataracts are a life-changing development that may rudely disrupt an active lifestyle. As a result, many patients wonder how to prevent or avoid cataracts. It’s commonly thought that because cataracts occur naturally, they can’t be prevented through good habits, diet, or any other preemptive action.
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Cataracts: The Facts You Need to Know
You may be able to hobble through your day with an achy back or a broken toe, but eye issues can stop you in your tracks. Our eyes are among the most vital organs in our bodies but, unfortunately, eye disorders such as cataracts are more common than people think. Over half of all adults aged 65 and older have at least one cataract, and cataracts are the most common cause of blindness, globally.
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How To Avoid Developing Cataracts
Aside from your essential organs, your eyes are among your body’s most essential parts. The same way we rely on our eyes to see, our eyes rely on a lens to bend incoming light and form clear images. Over time, however, your lenses can develop cataracts which cause them to cloud and diminish your vision. While there is no 100% proven method of preventing cataracts, taking certain steps now can help to protect your eyes and reduce your risk of developing cataracts later on.
1. Protect Your Eyes from the Sun
Although sunlight is not the direct cause of cataracts, excessive exposure has been shown to increase your risk of developing them. To keep your eyes adequately protected, invest in sunglasses with UV protection, and wear a wide brimmed hat to keep your eyes properly shaded while outdoors.
2. Maintain a Healthy Diet
In addition to being a major risk to your overall health, studies have shown that diabetes can increase your risk of developing cataracts. The first step to avoiding diabetes? A healthy diet. Maintaining a healthy blood sugar level will keep your eyes (and the rest of your body) much healthier as you age.
3. Limit Your Alcohol Consumption
In general, preserving bodily health is an important step to preventing cataracts. Just like a poor diet, excessive alcohol consumption can promote unhealthy blood sugar levels which increase your risk of developing cataracts.
4. If You Smoke, Stop
Need another reason to quit? It’s no secret that smoking is absolutely horrible for your lungs, but did you know that tobacco can also harm your vision? According to recent research, your risk of developing cataracts doubles if you smoke cigarettes.
5. Keep Key Nutrients in Your Diet
Studies have shown that the right balance of certain vitamins, antioxidants and minerals in your diet can seriously reduce your risk of developing cataracts. To make sure you’re maintaining an eye-friendly diet, eat plenty of dark-green leafy vegatables. They contain the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin, which studies have linked to an 18% decrease in the likelihood of cataract development. Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish like salmon and sardines can also help you reduce your risk of developing cataracts.
6. Maintain Regular Eye Appointments
The best way to avoid cataracts is to have your eyes checked regularly. Even if your eyes seem healthy, regular eye exams are the only way to detect early signs of eye disorders such as cataracts, glaucoma, or macular degeneration. After all, early detection can reduce your risk of permanent damage and save your vision!
7. Keep Your Vision Intact at Eye Center of Texas
If you’re experiencing vision issues due to cataracts, Eye Center of Texas is the first step to healthier, longer-lasting vision. Using only the finest technology at each of our six locations, our doctors work to make each experience comfortable, convenient and pain free. Find the location nearest you, and schedule an appointment to get started!
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Cataract Prevention & Treatment
Your eyes are among the most fragile organs you possess. As such, it becomes important to take extra special care of them. One major eye defect that should be guarded against is the formation of cataracts. Let’s take a closer look at this particular medical condition and see how you can prevent it from destroying your vision.
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Cataracts Can Happen to Anyone, At Any Age
Cataracts are the leading cause of vision loss for people in their 40s and older, but sometimes cataracts can develop in children or even from birth. Cataracts are cloudy spots on the lens inside the eye. This lens is normally clear, so when it is clouded, it affects vision.
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June is Cataract Awareness Month
Cataracts are the leading cause of vision loss in Americans 65 and older and the principal cause of blindness in the world. In fact, there are more cases of cataracts worldwide than there are of glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy combined.
Facts about Cataracts
- A cataract is the clouding of the natural lens of the eye, the same part of the eye responsible for focusing light and enabling you to see clear images.
- Aside from the normal aging process, additional causes for developing cataracts include: eye injury; systemic conditions such as diabetes; the use of certain medications; long-term unprotected sun exposure; smoking; and a family history of cataracts.
- Symptoms can include: blurry vision; sensitivity to light, glare; fading of colors; difficulty reading; double vision; and frequent changes in prescription of eyeglasses or contact lenses.
- Small cataracts may not cause any noticeable symptoms. As cataracts progress, they cause limitations in the activities of daily living such as reading, driving, and watching TV.
- The condition can be treated with surgery by removing the clouded lens and replacing it with an artificial lens implant. This surgery is easily tolerated and performed at an outpatient setting.
- Cataract surgery is one of the most commonly performed medical procedures in the United States, with more than three million surgeries performed each year.
Your decision on where to go for cataract surgery should not be made lightly because not all cataract procedures are the same. The practice you choose should offer world-class surgeons and state-of-the-art technology. At Eye Center of Texas our cataract surgeons, Dr. Mark Mayo and Dr. Edward Wade have years of experience, offer the safest, most-advanced cataract surgical techniques and technology that allows us to personalize a procedure that will be just right for your eyes.
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Have Glaucoma & Cataracts?
Today there is good news for patients considering cataract surgery and who have glaucoma. The FDA-approved iStent is great news for people who have both a cataract and glaucoma,” says Dr. Mark Mayo. The eye drops used to treat glaucoma can be difficult to administer and expensive. With iStent, many patients will need less medicine to control their eye pressure and some may not need prescription eye drops at all.” Studies have shown that more than 90% of patients do not comply with their ocular medication dosing regimens and nearly 50% discontinue taking their medications before 6 months. Dr. Mayo cautions that, “This can be a serious problem. When pressure in the eye is out of control, it can increase the risk for permanent vision loss. I consider iStent an important advancement in protecting against vision loss for my glaucoma patients.”
How Does iStent Work?
iStent works like the stents used to prevent heart attacks and strokes. When blood vessels get clogged, a stent creates access to the vessel flow. While a highly innovative technology, how iStent works is elegantly simple:
- If you have glaucoma, over time the eye’s natural drainage system becomes clogged
- iStent creates a permanent opening through the blockage to improve the eye’s natural outflow & spares the eye tissue often damaged in traditional surgeries
- Restoring this mechanism lowers and controls pressure within the eye
iStent is the smallest medical device ever approved by the FDA. It is placed in your eye during cataract surgery and is so small that you won’t be able to see or feel it after the procedure is over. It is 20,000 times smaller than the lens implanted during cataract surgery. iStent is designed to create a permanent opening in your trabecular meshwork, and works continuously to improve the outflow of fluid from your eyes to help control eye pressure.
iStent Q & A:
- What causes high eye or intraocular pressure?
Your eye uses an intricate fluid outflow system to keep it balanced and healthy. At the center of this system is the trabecular meshwork. In patients with open-angle glaucoma, a blockage in the trabecular meshwork keeps the fluid in your eye from draining properly. When this happens, fluid backs up and eye pressure rises. - How does iStent lower eye pressure?
iStent is designed to create a permanent opening in your eye’s drainage system to improve the outflow of fluid from your eyes. By increasing fluid outflow, iStent lowers pressure within the eye. - How big is the stent?
It is about the size of the letter c in the word cent on a penny. In fact, it is the smallest medical device ever approved by the FDA. - Is iStent safe?
Yes. iStent is a safe glaucoma treatment and has been approved by the FDA for mild to moderate open-angle glaucoma. - Will I be able to feel or see the iStent in my eye?
No. iStent is so small you won’t be able to see or feel it after the procedure. - Does iStent hurt?
No. iStent does not hurt. You will not even know it is there. - Will I be able to stop taking my glaucoma eye drops?
In a U.S. clinical trial, iStent patients who achieved a target pressure of <21, were more likely not to need their medications than patients with cataract only surgery. It helps decrease the likelihood that a second glaucoma medication would need to be added in the future. - How much does iStent cost?
iStent is covered by Medicare and many private insurance plans.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Cataracts
Many people believe cataracts have to be “ripe” before they can be removed. This is simply not true. Cataract surgery is a routine procedure that can be performed as soon as your vision problems begin to interfere with your life.
What happens if cataracts go untreated?
Over time, the clouded areas of your lens can become larger and denser, causing your sight to become worse. This can take anywhere from a few months to many years. Eventually, though, your entire lens can cloud over and cause blindness.
Which lens will work best for me?
No single lens is right for everyone and only your doctor can determine the most appropriate option for you.
Do all lenses let you see at different distances?
No, only lenses with multiple focal points are designed to give you full range of clear vision. For instance, the AcrySof IQ ReSTOR IOL is designed to perform near, far and everything in between, so you can experience crisp vision for the most important things in your life, like reading, driving and outdoor activities.
Will they treat both eyes at the same time?
No, your surgeon will only treat one eye per procedure, allowing your eye adequate time to recover and stabilize before treating the other.
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Cataract Surgery Can Be Life Changing
A cataract is a clouding of the natural lens, the part of the eye responsible for focusing light on the retina and producing clear, sharp images. Old cells in the lens die and become trapped in the sealed lens capsule, accumulating until light passing through the lens scatters, resulting in a blurry or fuzzy image. Contrast sensitivity is reduced, as if you were always trying to see in dim light.
In the past people waited until their cataract was fully “ripe” and nearly blinding before having it removed, the current recommendation is to have the surgery as soon as a cataract interferes with normal activities, including driving, watching television, climbing stairs, playing tennis, cooking and reading. In fact, the more advanced a cataract becomes, the more difficult the surgery.
The surgery to remove the cataract involves a very small self-healing incision in the cornea — less than one- eighth of an inch, or 3 millimeters, and no stitches needed — through which a tiny probe is inserted that transmits ultrasound waves to break up the cataract. The emulsified lens is then suctioned out through the probe.
The clouded lens that is removed is replaced with an individually fitted artificial lens that can result in near-perfect visual acuity — the ability to see distance. Or for those who prefer a correction of near vision for reading, an artificial lens can do that instead. For some people, even a multifocal lens can now be fitted, to improve both near and far vision.
If you or someone you know has a cataract or is need of cataract surgery and lens implants please feel free schedule a cataract evaluation at Eye Center of Texas by calling 713-797-1010.
Cataract surgery…is nothing short of amazing.
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Laser Cataract Surgery
Cataract surgery has undergone a revolutionary advance – shifting from a manual technique to an ultramodern femtosecond laser procedure which can treat even the hardest of cataracts in minutes. Not since the “no-stitch” cataract procedure has the ophthalmology profession experienced such a seismic shift in eye surgery; and it’s now in Houston. On July 20 2012, Dr Mark Mayo and Dr. Edward Wade earned the distinction of being among the first to perform the LensSx Laser Cataract procedure in the United States. With the introduction of the FDA approved LenSx Laser, the eye surgeons at Eye Center of Texas now have the ability to provide patients with computer-controlled precision as it automates some of the most challenging steps of refractive cataract surgery. The laser replaces the traditional hand-held blade to optimize all incisions for enhanced, reproducible surgical performance. The breakthrough technology provides the surgeon with real-time three dimensional visualization for true customization of your lens replacement procedure.
Recent results show that the LenSx Laser is up to 10x more precise than manual techniques for some portions of the cataract surgical procedure and improves the safety and accuracy of your cataract surgery.
The good news is that you are experiencing cataracts at a time in the evolution of cataract surgery when technological advances are making the procedure better with laser cataract surgery. Eye Center of Texas offers a range of treatment options to suit your vision goals. Your eyes are unique. Based on the distinctive anatomy of your eyes, we will work with you to help you achieve your “personal best” vision. While no two patients are the same, our doctors will evaluate your eyes to determine if you are a candidate for Laser Cataract Surgery, assess your desired vision outcome and help you decide which Intraocular Lens Implant (IOL) will most likely help you achieve your vision goals.
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Houston, TX 77084
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281-214-2971
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Medical Office:
936-647-1610
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936-647-1620