Seeing Through the Fog…

 Glare when driving at night.
 Halos around headlights.
 Foggy vision.
 Looking through a film.
 Blurry vision far away and up close.
 Reduced intensity of colors.

Any of those sound familiar to you? It may be time to schedule an eye exam and be checked for
cataracts.
A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens inside your eye. When you are born, your lens is crystal clear. As
we age, the lens becomes cloudy. Most cataracts are caused by age-related changes, but exposure to
UV light, smoking and diabetes can put you at higher risk for developing them sooner. There is no way
to predict how quickly cataracts will progress. When I first learned about cataracts in optometry school
my professor told us “Everyone will get cataracts if they live long enough.” For some people it happens
at age 55. For others they don’t need the surgery until they are 95.
When cataracts are just forming, changing the prescription in glasses can be an effective treatment.
Adding anti-glare to the lenses can help with the symptoms the come with night driving. Using more or
brighter light when reading can also help the blurriness up close. The only treatment for significant
cataracts is a referral from your eye doctor for cataract surgery.

Dr. Katherine Marshall