How your world shrinks before you get cataract surgery
Cataracts are caused by the lens within the eye becoming less transparent, which is a natural part of the ageing process – just like when our skin becomes more wrinkled, and our hair starts to turn grey. It can take years for a cataract to develop, but you should be aware that the time to think about having surgery is when the cataract impacts upon your daily life. It starts with the need to enlarge the font on the phone and the kindle – not dissimilar to when you become presbyopic and develop a need for reading glasses.
You stop doing the things you enjoy
- Reading – because it’s tiring and becomes less enjoyable.
- Going out for dinner because you don’t want to drive home from the restaurant in darkness as car headlights dazzle you too much. You may even give up driving and give up your car because you lose confidence in your vision. This loss of independence can further undermine your confidence and reduce your enjoyment of life.
- Playing golf- because you can’t follow the ball and worry that your friends are getting fed up with watching the ball for you.
- Painting – this can lead to reduced enjoyment, colours may appear with a yellow/brown tinge, and everything loses clarity, which can lead to frustration. The same goes for crafts, needlework and birdwatching – again, due to colours not being as sharp as they used to be.
- Looking after your grandchildren because of the fear that you are not seeing things as well and are concerned that it may not be safe to look after them on your own.
Cataracts interrupt your circadian rhythm and disturb your sleep pattern. Lack of sleep and fatigue affects your enjoyment of every aspect of life and even affects your general health.
We are visual creatures. Vision is our primary sense, and we all derive much of our enjoyment of life itself from our appreciation of the beauty we see in the world around us. Cataract erodes our ability to see and appreciate this beauty.
At Custom Vision Clinic, we perform customised cataract surgery and meet your requirements individually. Custom Vision Clinic uses the most precise diagnostic equipment available, the result of which gives exact results for excellent vision, and you can begin to enjoy living life to the full again.
