Cataract
A cataract is a cloudy lens, not an emergency
The lens inside your eye slowly turns from clear to milky. Light gets scattered, so things look foggy. It grows over years, not days.
45 sec“A cataract will not eat your eye if you wait.”
Cataract surgeon
What the doctor says
“A cataract will not eat your eye if you wait.”
Cataract surgeon · 22 years, will never operate on you
- A cataract grows over years. There is no month-end deadline.
- Operate when the fog stops you driving, cooking or reading.
- Ask the price of a plain lens before anyone talks about a costly one.
Told your cataract must come out this month?
Send your scans. A senior eye doctor who will never operate on you reads them and writes a plain answer in two days.
How it feels
Colours look washed out. Headlights spread into a star at night. You clean your glasses again and again and it does not help. Reading needs more light than it used to.
Now or later?
Surgery is usually needed
- The cloudiness stops you driving, working or cooking safely
- The lens has gone very hard or white and is pushing eye pressure up
- Your doctor cannot see your retina to treat something else, like diabetes damage
- One eye is far weaker and it is making you unsteady on stairs
You can usually take your time
- You still read, drive and watch television comfortably
- A new pair of glasses brings you back to normal
- Only one eye is a little foggy and daily life is fine
- You were told to fix it 'before it ripens' but nothing is bothering you
A cataract does not damage the eye by waiting a year in most people. Nobody has to book a date the same week they hear the word.
Before you say yes
- Ask what your vision is with glasses on, in numbers, in each eye.
- Ask what will get better after surgery, and what will not.
- Ask the price of a plain lens. Costly multi-focus lenses suit some eyes and cause glare in others.
- Ask if your retina and eye pressure were checked, not just the lens.
Go to an eye hospital today if
- Sudden pain with redness and vomiting
- Vision drops in hours, not months
- A curtain, shadow or shower of black floaters appears
Not sure if you need surgery?
Send us your scans. A senior eye doctor who will never operate on you reads them and tells you the truth in two days.