Most people know that the cloudiness that develops in their vision as they age is due to cataracts. This condition can be reversed with cataract surgery. But did you know that if you have vision shortcomings that they can potentially benefit too? Here's what you should know about it.

What Cataracts Are

To understand how cataract surgery can help your overall vision, it's important to have an understanding of what cataracts actually are.

Cataracts are simply the natural clouding of the lens over the surface of the eye. This typically comes with age for the vast majority of people. As long as that lens is in place, your vision will remain cloudy.

What Cataract Surgery Does

Cataract surgery fixes this problem by removing the clouded lens and replacing it with an artificial one. This keeps the cloudiness from getting worse and can significantly brighten your vision back to where it was before you ever developed cataracts.

How It Helps Other Eye Conditions

Reversing the cataracts themselves can help your vision tremendously, but if you had vision problems prior to developing cataracts, it may help with that, too.

Problems like nearsightedness and farsightedness are usually due to the lens of the eye not flexing the way that it's supposed to. It makes it difficult to focus on things that are either close up or far away. Artificial lenses don't have this problem, though, so your eyes will be able to shift between the two more easily.

In addition, if you have astigmatism, you can actually be cured of it by having cataract surgery. Astigmatism exists because the lens on the surface of the eye is warped in comparison to a normal lens. This alters the way that light enters your eye and changes your image of the world. So once this lens is removed and a normally-shaped artificial one is used to replace it, your astigmatism will cease to be a problem.

Cataract surgery is a safe and common process for older people to go through. Without it, cataracts can actually make people go blind as the cloudiness becomes worse and worse. Thankfully, due to scientific and medical advancements, this is no longer the fate of people who develop cataracts. Get the help that you need to stave off your vision getting worse and you may benefit in unexpected ways. Talk to an eye doctor if you have further questions about cataracts or the surgery you'll be undergoing.

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