Cataract

A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye which leads to a decrease in vision.Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble with bright lights, and trouble seeing at night. This may result in trouble driving, reading, or recognizing faces.Poor vision caused by cataracts may also result in an increased risk of falling and depression. Cataracts cause half of all cases of blindness and 33% of visual impairment worldwide.

Cataracts are most commonly due to aging but may also occur due to trauma or radiation exposure, be present from birth, or occur following eye surgery for other problems. Risk factors include diabetes, smoking tobacco, prolonged exposure to sunlight, and alcohol. The underlying mechanism involves accumulation of clumps of protein or yellow-brown pigment in the lens that reduces transmission of light to the retina at the back of the eye. Diagnosis is by an eye examination.

Prevention includes wearing sunglasses and avoiding smoking. Early on the symptoms may be improved with glasses. If this does not help, surgery to remove the cloudy lens and replace it with an artificial lens is the only effective treatment. Surgery is needed only if the cataracts are causing problems and generally results in an improved quality of life. Cataract surgery is not readily available in many countries, which is especially true for women, those living in rural areas, and those who do not know how to read.

About 20 million people are blind due to cataracts. It is the cause of approximately 5% of blindness in the United States and nearly 60% of blindness in parts of Africa and South America. Blindness from cataracts occurs in about 10 to 40 per 100,000 children in the developing world, and 1 to 4 per 100,000 children in the developed world. Cataracts become more common with age More than half the people in the United States had cataracts by the age of 80.

The experience of the medical centers staff, the simplicity and speed of the diagnostic, treatment and surgical procedures, the cooperation with the best ophthalmologists in Iran, the use of the best and most up-to-date ophthalmology equipment in the world, the fair and reasonable price of the services, the cooperation with the vast majority of insurance and Respect and reverence for patients and patients has made ophthalmology centers today the reference point for many people in Iran and neighboring countries for the diagnosis, treatment and eye surgery.