Time gradually ages the body of any person, wearing out every single internal organ and system. Vision, especially the eyes, as an organ, are also subject to wear and tear. The wear of the organs of vision leads to clouding of the lens. Clouding of the lens in ophthalmology is called cataract.

Healthy eyes freely let the rays directing into them pass through the complex optical system, in which the lens plays the main role.

The lens in the eyes of an adult is a transparent, yellowish body that is capable of refracting light rays falling on it. In the case of clouding of the lens, vision deteriorates significantly, up to a complete loss of the ability to see with the sick eye.

There is still debate about the nature of the opacity of the lens. The first opinion is that lens opacity is a normal process that accompanies aging in any organism. The second opinion is that lens opacity is a pathology. The controversy is also due to the fact that at the moment there is no clear scheme for the development of this phenomenon. There is only evidence that women suffer from lens opacity more often than the stronger sex. In addition, factors and diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes, taking large doses of corticosteroid drugs and a number of certain drugs with a psychotropic effect can lead to the development of lens opacity. Among other things, ultraviolet radiation and rays of the sun can provoke the development of lens opacity. 

The location and strength of the lens opacity may vary. A pathologically altered lens may stop changing for some time. In other cases, even with the treatment of the lens, the opacity of the lens continues to progress. 

Ophthalmologists to this day are not able to say exactly why the rate of development of the disease differs in different people.

Lens clouding can be congenital or acquired.

Lens clouding of a congenital nature has different strengths. Conditions affecting the birth of a baby already suffering from cataracts include diabetes mellitus of the mother’s body, metabolic disorders, infectious diseases that a woman suffered in the first half of pregnancy, and so on.

To establish the presence of a clouded lens in a newborn, it is necessary to pay attention to how his gaze is focused on the object, whether the child is able to follow the moving objects with his eyes. In addition, strabismus and slight trembling of the eyes may indicate clouding of the lens in a newborn. 

Acquired lens opacity is also subdivided into senile cataract; cataract that has arisen against the background of endocrine pathologies; traumatic cataract; lens opacity of a toxic nature. 

Lens clouding symptoms.

– developing myopia;

– a feeling that a film begins to form in the eye, interfering with normal seeing;

– vague perception of the object;

– depletion of color perception;

– the formation of halos of light around the light source.

Lens opacity therapy in most cases involves surgery, since drugs are not able to give a lasting positive result.

Lens opacity is operated at a late stage of development, when it is possible to easily stratify the fibers of the affected lens.

At the moment, many clinics provide the service of replacing the affected lens with a prosthesis.