If your eye doctor tells you have cataracts in one or both eyes, and he recommends surgery to remove them, don’t despair. When you cannot see as well as you could before, one reason can be that cataracts have developed in one or both eyes. Cataracts are the clouding of the natural lens in the eye. Cataract surgery removes the clouded lens and can replace the lens at the time of surgery with different types of lenses, and by 80, more than half of all Americans either have a cataract or have had cataract surgery, according to the National Eye Institute.
When cataracts interfere with your daily life – driving, reading, working at a desktop or laptop computer, doing needlepoint or playing sports – it may be time to consider cataract surgery. Decisions about cataract surgery start with an examination and conversation with your doctor. After that, “it’s a personal decision,” said Vicente Diaz, assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology at Yale School of Medicine and chief of ophthalmology at Bridgeport Hospital. Eye surgeons remind patients that while cataract surgery is a common procedure, it is considered elective, that is, a decision each individual has to make. Certainly, your ophthalmologist can guide you as to when is the optimal time for you to …