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At the Kentucky Eye Institute you don't have
to travel long distances for eye care, we have offices in
central, southern, and eastern Kentucky. Each has free parking
close by and all are wheelchair accessible. Making an appointment
is simple. You can call the office nearest to you to make
an appointment anytime Monday through Friday, between 8:30
a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
A cataract is
a cloudy area in the normally clear lens of the eye, a tissue
located behind the pupil that is responsible for focusing
light onto the retina (back of the eye). A cataract usually
begins small and has little effect on vision, but as it grows
and clouds more of the lens you may find that performing normal
tasks, such as reading and driving, become more difficult.
The most common form of cataract is age-related,
usually starting after age 50, but sometimes can begin at
a younger age. Even though a cataract can start to form in
your 50's, vision problems may not occur until much later.
Cataracts also can be associated with diabetes, other systemic
diseases, alcoholism, premature birth or birth defects (congenital
or developmental cataracts), heredity, smoking, eye injuries,
cumulative exposure to ultraviolet rays, and certain medications.
Symptoms of a Cataract May Include:
- Increased nearsightedness
- Sensitivity to light and glare, especially
while driving at night
- Blurred vision or distorted images in either
eye
- Changes in the way you see colors, or colors
seem faded
- Cloudy, filmy or fuzzy vision
- Double vision
- Frequent changes in your eyeglass prescription
- Changes in the color of the pupil
- Poor night vision
- Cloudy lens at birth
Developing a cataract is one of those unfortunate
things that befall most of us as we age. Between the ages
of 52 and 64, you have a 50% chance of having a cataract,
but you probably won't experience any problems with your vision
until about 65. By 75, just about everyone has a cataract;
and 50% of the people between 75 and 85 have lost some vision
as a result.
Many generations have accepted poor vision
in later years as an inevitable consequence of aging. But
refinements in cataract surgery procedures and technological
advances in lens replacement have changed this assumption
dramatically, at least in the United States, where cataract
surgery is the number one therapeutic surgical procedure performed
on Americans 65 and older. Medicare pays $3.4 billion a year
for 1 million of the 1.3 million cataract procedures performed
annually.
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