What are cataracts?
Cataracts are an eye condition in which your eye lens grows cloudy or otherwise discolored. This discoloration of the normally clear eye lens leaves you unable to focus light and blurs your vision, along with other symptoms that make it hard to see well. Cataracts can affect one or both eyes.
Cataracts grow more common as you age, and by age 80, more than 50% of American men and women have a cataract.
What are the signs of a cataract?
Eye lens change is the most prominent cataract symptom, but that typically doesn't happen until your cataract is quite advanced. Before your cataract takes on that frosted window appearance, you may have other symptoms, including:
- Increased need for light when reading
- Increased glare sensitivity
- Poor color perception
- Blurry vision
- Poor depth perception
- Double vision
- Frequent eye prescription changes
Dr. Nguyen checks for cataracts during your eye exams, as early diagnosis is key to cataract management. Sometimes, you can delay cataract surgery with lifestyle adjustments, such as new eyeglasses, improved lighting, and anti-glare sunglasses. But, cataract surgery is the definitive treatment for any cataracts causing symptoms significant enough to interfere with your daily life.
What happens in cataract surgery?
In Dr. Nguyen's highly capable hands, cataract surgery is safe and reliable. In this outpatient procedure, Dr. Nguyen uses advanced surgical methods to remove your affected eye lens. Then, she replaces it with an artificial lens, an IOL, that restores your vision.
What are the different options for cataract lenses?
At Westminster Eye Center, Dr. Nguyen uses a variety of IOLs, including:
Standard lenses
Standard lenses contain one prescription throughout the lens. This is the most common type of IOL.
Trifocal lenses
Westminster Eye Center offers the AcrySof® IQ PanOptix® trifocal lens, which is the only FDA-approved trifocal IOL. The PanOptix IOL contains near, intermediate, and distance vision correction in one lens. The lens has separate segments for each distance, and your eye adapts to looking in the right area for each vision task.
Multifocal lenses
Westminster Eye Center also offers multifocal lenses, including the AcrySof IQ ReSTOR® IOL. As with trifocal lenses, multifocal lenses correct vision at all distances. But, with multifocal lenses, the change between the different distances is a gradual one rather than a segmented one.
Dr. Nguyen can help you choose the ideal IOL for your cataract surgery.
For cataract surgery from one of the top-rated ophthalmologists in Westminster, call the office or book online now.
