What Are Symptoms of Cataracts?

Cataracts can severely affect your vision. Cataracts are characterized by clouding of the eye’s natural lens, which gradually leads to blurred or impaired vision. Knowing the symptoms of cataracts will allow you to catch the early warning signs and get medical care early, thus lowering the chances of cataract complications and vision loss.

Here are some symptoms of cataracts.

Blurry or Cloudy Vision

A tell-tale sign of cataracts is dull and blurry eyesight. As the natural lens of the eye clouds with age, vision can become hazy, as if you are looking through frosted or fogged-up glass. Near and distant sight can suffer from this, but it can make doing everyday things such as watching TV, reading, or driving more challenging. Glasses or contact lenses can help some early on, but they don’t help as much later, indicating that other medical treatment will be necessary. Surgery may be the best option, so finding out how much Medicare covers for cataract surgery is important.

Sensitivity to Light and Glare

Early stages of cataracts often cause sensitivity to light and glare, making people with them uncomfortable in bright areas or directly under lighting. Those with cataracts may find that they experience great glare from oncoming headlights or streetlights at night. The sensitivity in the range comes from a halo effect created by light scattering that passes through the clouded lens around bright lights. However, such glare can make it difficult to read in strong lights, to work on a computer, or even to enjoy an outdoor activity in the sun.

Difficulty Seeing at Night

Usually, people with cataracts have problems driving at night because cataracts make the problem of vision worse in little light. Lack of adequate amounts of light to reach the retina usually causes the eye not to get the required amount of detail. Hence your vision deteriorates as you drive in the night or move around in the dark. Some drivers may find they are using their car headlights more during the evening than before or may see a glare around streetlights or car headlights, which can make nighttime driving even more problematic. However, such problems with night vision can worsen as the condition of cataracts progresses, and this can be a good time to get an appointment with an eye-care professional to determine the possibility of a treatment.

Conclusion

Untreated cataracts can have a significant effect on your vision and your quality of your life. Detecting cataracts early is important to ensure that you receive the best treatment.