Cataract Surgery Specialist

What are cataracts?

You may have heard that your eyes have lenses. That’s not just a medical term — they actually do work a lot like the lens of a camera, helping to focus light on your retinas and allowing you to see clearly.

When you have a cataract, these lenses become foggy, blurry, or cloudy, and your vision becomes less sharp, or “out of focus.” Colors may also appear less bright.

Cataracts have noticeable effects on your everyday life. Activities you’re used to doing become more difficult. Signs of cataracts include:

• Needing more light to read
• Being extra sensitive to light and glare
• Difficulty seeing at night
• Problems with driving, especially at night because of glare from oncoming headlights

Cataracts are most common among people 60 and older. Cataracts usually develop in both eyes, but not at the same time, so one eye has a more advanced cataract than the other.

How do cataracts form?

Cataracts form when proteins build up in your eye. It’s normal and healthy for your eyes to contain proteins. These proteins are important to the structure of your eye, but over time, they can break down and clump together, forming cataracts.

When your vision looks cloudy from a cataract, you’re looking right at these proteins. Cataracts directly block light from reaching your eye.

You may not notice cataracts at first because they’re small enough that you can ignore or adjust to them, but eventually, they grow large enough to significantly interfere with your vision.

Though cataracts are much more common in older people, they can also affect young people with past eye trauma and certain genetic conditions.

Though cataracts may not be preventable, they appear to be more common among people who get a lot of sun exposure. They’re also more likely to form if you:

• Are diabetic
• Smoke
• Have high blood pressure
• Have a family history of cataracts

If you notice any changes to your vision, schedule an appointment at Rosemead Eye Center.

When do cataracts require surgery?

The only way to remove a cataract is through surgery. However, even if you have a cataract, you may not need surgery right away. If your cataract is still small, Dr. Lai can help you adjust. He might recommend:

• Changing your eyeglass prescription
• Improving the lighting in your home
• Wearing anti-glare lenses for night driving

When a cataract interferes with your everyday life, the next step is surgery, a safe, effective procedure that restores your clear vision. Cataract surgery is an outpatient procedure that takes place at Rosemead Eye Center and lasts 15-20 minutes per eye.

Dr. Lai performs cataract surgery on one eye at a time. He advises waiting at least a few days, and up to two weeks, between surgeries, depending on your circumstances.

During cataract surgery, Dr. Lai removes the cloudy natural lens and replaces it with an artificial lens. He uses advanced technology lenses, which not only can treat your cataract but improve nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

Some patients no longer depend on glasses after cataract surgery with advanced technology lenses.

To learn more about cataract surgery, schedule an appointment with Rosemead Eye Center online or over the phone.