Ophthalmologists are often asked if a cataract must be “ripe” before surgery is elected. This notion stems from the fact that patients used to wait for their cataracts to harden, or “ripen” before they could have surgery. In those days, as various proteins in the normally flexible eye lens clumped together, and as the lens got stiffer, it was easier to remove a fairly intact lens through a relatively large incision. The best results were attained by extracting a solid lens that did not fall apart as it was lifted out. Today, lens “ripeness” is irrelevant as modern surgical procedure entails breaking up and suctioning out the clouded lens utilizing the “phacoemulsification” technique that requires a minuscule incision. There is no objective test to determine the need for cataract surgery. Patients must decide for themselves on the basis of their vision loss.
Blurring The Lines
As we reach age 65, many of us will have some degree of cataract owing to age related changes in the chemical composition of the eye crystalline lens. As a result, the normally transparent lens becomes cloudy and vision becomes blurry. As much as the symptom is associated with cataract, blurred vision should not always be assumed that a clouded lens is the cause. Blurred vision may also result from other eye conditions and diseases, which, if not properly treated in time, can cause irreversible loss of vision. Proper diagnosis of any vision related symptom can only result from a visit to an ophthalmologist or optometrist, who can make a proper diagnosis a the first sign of a problem.
