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Many people have heard the term cataract, and while they may not know exactly what it is, they generally at least know it has something to do with the eye. Cataracts are a very common eye problem that can develop, and fortunately can be rather easily treated.

What is a cataract?

Cataracts occur when the lens of your eye becomes cloudy, which of course can greatly effect your vision. This is caused by the lenses in your eyes changing as you age, becoming thicker and less transparent. This clear lens is made of protein fibers and water, and as you get older, the fibers begin to break down, and can start to clump together. This causes the cloudy cataract. A cataract can form on any part of your eye, and can occur in just one eye or both eyes. Most frequently, those that experience cataracts will have them symmetrically in both of their eyes, but it is not unheard of for them to only affect one eye, particularly if that eye has been injured or suffered from some sort of trauma.

Types of Cataracts

There are different types of cataracts that can be found in the eyes. These are:

• Cortical cataracts
• Nuclear cataracts
• Subcapsular cataracts

Cortical cataracts occur along the outside edge of your eyes lens cortex. As the cataract grows in size, streaks will begin to extend to the center of the eye, and cause problems with your vision. The most common vision problems associated with cortical cataracts is excessive glare. Nuclear cataracts start in the center of the eye lens. It usually begins by affecting your vision, and surprisingly enough, affects your vision in such a way that it can improve the way you see. However, as the cataract grows, vision will once again fade and will become cloudy the larger the cataract grows. Finally, we have subcapsular cataracts. These cataracts start in the capsule of the eye lens, in the path of the retina. These types of cataracts will generally cause poor vision in bright light and can cause halos to appear in your vision. To learn more about cataracts as well as LASIK, custom LASIK, and cornea transplant, we encourage you to visit our Dallas and Fort Worth laser eye surgery center.