How regular eye check-ups help keep cataract at bay

Emanuel, 40, had a cataract surgery a few weeks ago. He said he went to the hospital when he couldn’t see clearly with his two eyes and was diagnosed of cataract.

“When I went to the hospital, I was told that I had cataract and that the only solution was to carry out surgery to correct the problem. The cost of the surgery was on the high side but there was nothing I could do than to source for the money,” said Emmanuel.

“It is a serious disease; though you don’t feel pain, but your vision will be going gradually and you will not be able to read again,” he said.

Cataract is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world and many sufferers do not visit the hospital or an ophthalmologist until their vision becomes irredeemable.

It is described as a medical condition in which the lens of the eye becomes progressively opaque, resulting in blurred vision and eventual blindness.

An ophthalmologist, Dr. Valentina Ideh, said yearly eye check and early detection is key to preventing cataract blindness.

According to Dr Ideh, if you look at the eye, it is dark but there is a clear area called cornea and the blue area which is the lens. The lens is very important because it allows light through the back of the eye for people to see.

Dr Ideh who is also the Chief Medical Director, Prime Optical Eye Centre, Benin, said the lens could be damaged during formation (not form well) which could led to genital cataract.

She explained that there are some diseases which affect women during pregnancy such as German measles that could also cause cataract.

The ophthalmologist said some children could be born with the disease called congenital cataract.

“If cataract is in one eye or both eyes the earlier surgery is done the better because the patient will not be able to see with the eye as it progresses. If the eye has problem from birth and you do not correct it early, it becomes lazy and not working well, and even if you do the operation later in life, the sufferer will not see very well because seeing is dependent on the part of the brain called visual content which connected to the lens,” she stated.

The CMD said once that pathway is interrupted in any way by cataract and light did not go through to the brain, and the visual content didn’t develop very well enough, it becomes a problem and even if it was removed, the cataract infected eye will not be able to see again.

She said cataract is caused by diseases in the lens during pregnancy (congenital cataract), explaining that there are drugs a mother takes that could destroy the lens during the formation of the lens.

She added that another commonest cause of cataract is also trauma, such as from broomstick, pencil or biro tip injuring the eye when children are playing or being flogged by teachers and parents.

Other causes include gunshot injury, road traffic accident, violence from fighting and other brutality acts.

“Other causes are old age (feline cataract) and this is called natural aging of the lens because as the person grows old, the lens is also growing old.

“So cataract is caused by trauma, congenital, or age related, metabolic diseases like diabetes and Down syndrome,’ she said.

She explained also that it doesn’t have noticeable symptom but that the sufferer will have gradual painless loss of vision.

Dr Ideh said the only treatment for cataract is surgery to remove the lens and replace it with Intraocular lenses (IOLs).

She said some of the myths about the disease are the belief that herbalists could treat cataract instantly, and that it was as a result of the kind of food the sufferer eats.

She advised people to always go for yearly eye checkup in order to determine whether they have eye problems or not, stressing that regular check up can save one from the disease. is