Cataracts

Today was a good day, and even though it didn't have to do much with light, it had to do with sight, which is slightly related to light. And it was a good day.

My dad had surgery today. He had been having trouble with his eyes for some years, and gone to lots of doctors, so many we have lost the count. He even stopped driving and working because of this. He has macular degeneration... but today is a happy day so I won't talk about that, but, I'll talk about the good news.

So, for years my dad had been going to the eye doctor, just that the doctor was never the same, and he complaint a lot about that (with the insurance company) until he was finally heard and sent to a great and young eye doctor who has been following his case.

She was the first one giving him a hope. She told him he might have a cataract in one eye, and if removed, he might recover some of his sight.

He had the surgery today. Not an easy one. Not an easy day. But... he had surgery! Tomorrow the patch is being removed and we hope he can see much better. Not perfect due to the macula degeneration, but much better.

But now... what is a cataract?

Imagine everything you see is blurry. As if there is a cloud in front of you covering everything up. Not enough light comes into your eye, so not even the colors are bright enough. I cannot imagine having a cataract, it should be terrible. Not enough light entering and not knowing why. I mean, you can saw "oh, today is a cloudy day","today is a foggy day", but every day like that? every day until you forget how is it like to see normally.

According to the National Eye Institute, an cataract is  "clouding of the lens in the eye that affects vision"

There are two kinds of problems or symptoms. You can have blurred vision or perceive sharp light, you may have double vision, or try to change the lense, and this will be very gradually. The second problem would be that your lens changes from transparent to yellowish or brownish, so you begin seeing everything with a sepia tint. Can you imagine seeing everything as an aged picture?

Blurry vision

There are several treatments depending on how advanced your cataract is. My dad had the surgery, this is the last treatment. In this, the cataract is removed and a lense is put inside. You have to rest, avoid doing efforts, or loweing your head, use eye drops to avoid infections, go to the doctor frequently and follow all the instructions given. 

It might be hard or uncomfortable, but totally worthy. 

I'm so happy for my dad right now. And if you want to know more about cataracts, read the site of the National Eye Institute: http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/cataract/cataract_facts.asp it gives you lots of information and explains things really well. If you are looking for something simpler, this site is also nice: http://www.doctortipster.com/1753-cataracts-types-symptoms-diagnosis-and-treatment.html

All the best, and take care of your vision!

Hugs, 

Orqui