I have cataracts growing but the eye Dr. says they aren't ripe enough to remove. What can I do in the meantime

Question

Both of my brothers had catteracts removed after I was told that I had them. They didn't even know they couldn't see. LOL! I however know that I am having a hard time seeing but I am still wating. I wonder what they did differently? I know the both were to stubborn to wear their biofocals except for reading only. If I stop wearing my glasses will my catteracts thichen so that I can get them removed and see again? Would the eyes strainning to see make the cataracts thicken?

Answer 1

Cataracts are foggy areas of the lens in the eye. In certain parts of the world, cataracts will become 'mature', actually white. These people are blind till someone removes the foggy lens. Now days the lens is replaced with an implant which is a plastic or silicone or ? lens that does the work of the old lens. Because it's a piece of plastic, most only have one focal length. So you could get a lens that gives you vision far away (considered Normal), or get a little more powerful lens that is focused at reading distance (nearsighted).

If your vision is fairly good, most ophthalmologists will not do the surgery (there is a little bit of risk). Others will.

In the OLD days, 50% of the eyes operated on were lost. People had to lie down for weeks, sutures weren't 'good', we didn't have the antibiotics we do now, we didn't have the microscopes, and we didn't have the skill. Nowdays, cataract surgery is done in 10-30 minutes depending on the surgeon and his team.

Not wearing your glasses will make it so you just don't see very well. You can take all the pictures you want with your camera whether or not you take the lens cap off or focus the thing. It'll just take lousey pictures but it won't affect the camera at all. With time your lens will change. When it gets to the point where your vision is compromised and even with glasses you can't see very well, and the reason is the cataract, you will get the surgery.

Answer 2

Nothing you do or read or strain to see can have any effect on the "ripening" of cataracts. They just develop on their own and your eye surgeon will tell you when it's time to remove them. Everyone "ripens" at a different rate...my own right eye cataract took only two years from when it was first diagnosed, and the right eye cataract came right behind it the following year after the first surgery. Some cataracts just hang around and some get ripe faster...and nothing you do will retard their development or speed it up either!