Inside your eye a natural lens focuses light for sharp vision. This lens is located behind the iris colored part of your eye. When you are young, your lens is clear. As you age, your natural lens becomes cloudy and distorts the light rays as they enter your eye. The clouded lens causes your eye to send cloudy or dim pictures to your brain. This clouded lens is called a cataract.

A cataract simply decreases the brightness and clarity of your vision. Your vision begins to have a gray or yellowish fog that seems to have settled over everything. Itching, redness or discomfort in your eye are not indications of a cataract.

How Can You Tell If You Have A Cataract?

Are you having difficulty seeing green traffic lights or reading road signs? Are you less sure of yourself when you drive? Does the printing on newspapers or medicine labels seem fuzzy or blurred? Does the color on your TV seem dim? Do you stumble more often and worry you may fall? Are you worried about becoming dependent upon family and friends because of poor vision? If your answer to any of these is yes, you may have a cataract.

A cataract merely causes you to see objects as blurred or dim. The colors green or blue often become difficult to see. Bright lights at night may cause you to see circles or halos around them, making night time driving uncomfortable and difficult.

As ophthalmologists, we can determine with a thorough examination and series of tests whether or not you have a cataract or any other eye health problem. If you have a cataract, you are the only one who should make the final decision to have cataract surgery – the only known treatment for cataracts.

Glaucoma is a series of diseases that if left untreated can cause damage to the optic nerve resulting in gradual vision loss and eventually blindness. Damage to the optic nerve due to glaucoma, is usually cause by an elevated intraocular pressure (IOP).

A clear fluid called aqueous humor, fills the front of the eye (anterior chamber) and provides nourishment to the tissues. Like the air in a balloon, the aqueous also provides pressure to help maintain the shape of the eye.

OPEN ANGLE GLAUCOMA (OAG), the most common type of glaucoma, occurs when there is either a sustained increase in fluid production or a decrease in fluid drainage. With the imbalance in fluid flow, there is an increase in the intraocular pressure, which in turn reduces blood flow to the sensitive tissues of the optic nerve. Over time, as the optic nerve fibers are destroyed, peripheral (side) vision is lost.