You, like a majority of older adults might be affected by age-related cataracts at some point during your life. Because the symptoms of cataracts are not immediately noticeable, it is important to have your eyes examined as recommended by your eye doctor to catch them at an earlier stage. Once you have been diagnosed with cataracts, you may have many questions, but the most important one you might want to ask your doctor is how cataracts will affect my vision.

Symptoms of Cataracts

As cataracts progress, you may begin to notice symptoms, such as:

• Blurry vision. This can be a symptom of many different eye conditions, so you should always consult with a doctor if it suddenly occurs.
• Sensitivity to light. You may find that being in the sunlight hurts your eyes.
• Difficulty seeing at night. While intense light may hurt your eyes, you may find it difficult to see in the dark, especially while driving or need more light than you used to need to read.
• Seeing double. You may see two images of a single object, and often these images overlap.
• Colors no longer seem as bright. It may seem that colors are faded or have a yellowish tinge to them like an old photograph.

Cataracts do not go away on their own and they are accepted as a normal part of the aging process. During their earlier stages, surgery is not always indicated to remove cataracts. As symptoms increase and your cataracts affect your vision, surgery will be needed to restore your eyesight. If surgery is required, the eye surgeons at Iowa City Ambulatory Surgical Center are ready to help.