Cataracts

A cataract is a clouding of the lens in your eye which sits just behind your iris - the coloured part of your eye. Normally your lens is clear and helps to focus the light entering your eye. Developing cataracts will cause your sight to become cloudy and misty. They usually affect both eyes but can affect just one eye and then the other later. Developing cataracts is most commonly a result of growing older. Most people start to develop cataracts after the age of 65 but people in their forties and fifties can also develop them. Cataracts can affect babies and young people though this is much less common than in adults. Cataracts normally develop very slowly. At first, the changes they make to your sight may be difficult to notice, but as they worsen you’ll start to notice symptoms such as: • You feel like your glasses are dirty and need cleaning, even when they don’t. • Your sight is misty and cloudy. • You’re more sensitive to light – bright sunlight or car headlamps may glare more. There’s nothing you can do to stop cataracts from developing or getting worse but they can be treated by surgery. This removes the cloudy lens and replaces it with an artificial lens.