What are the 3 types of cataracts?

There are 5 main types of cataracts.
  • Age-related cataract. As you age, a cataract can develop because of natural changes in the lens of your eye. …
  • Traumatic cataract. Serious eye injuries can damage your lens and cause a cataract. …
  • Radiation cataract. Certain types of radiation can cause cataracts. …
  • Pediatric cataract.

What are the 5 types of cataracts?

Cataract types include:
  • Cataracts affecting the center of the lens (nuclear cataracts). …
  • Cataracts that affect the edges of the lens (cortical cataracts). …
  • Cataracts that affect the back of the lens (posterior subcapsular cataracts). …
  • Cataracts you’re born with (congenital cataracts).

What are the classification of cataract according to age?

Age-related cataracts – Age-related cataracts are further classified as cortical senile cataract, immature senile cataract (lens is partially opaque), mature senile cataract (completely opaque lens) and hypermature senile cataract (with liquefied lens).

What characteristics classify cataracts?

There are three main types of cataract: Nuclear Sclerotic, Cortical and Posterior Subcapsular. The types of cataracts are classified based on where and how they develop in the eye. Nuclear Sclerotic Cataract: A nuclear sclerotic cataract refers to the hardening of the nucleus, the center, of the lens of the eye.

What is a Grade 3 cataract?

Correct! A 3+ cataract. This cataract is so dense that the cortex has liquefied, allowing the nucleus to sink to the bottom of the lens capsule. This special type of very dense cataract is known as a Morgagnian cataract.

What are the stages of cataracts?

What are the stages of cataracts?
  • Early cataract. This refers to the very beginning stages of cataracts. …
  • Immature cataract. By this stage, proteins will have started to cloud the lens of the eye, making it opaquer than before. …
  • Mature cataract. …
  • Hypermature cataract.

What are the main causes of cataracts?

Most cataracts are caused by normal changes in your eyes as you get older. When you’re young, the lens in your eye is clear. Around age 40, the proteins in the lens of your eye start to break down and clump together. This clump makes a cloudy area on your lens — or a cataract.

What is blue dot cataract?

Cerulean cataracts, also known as blue dot cataracts, are developmental cataracts characterized by blue and white opacifications scattered in the nucleus and cortex of the lens. Patients with cerulean cataracts are usually asymptomatic until 18-24 months of age and often do not need them removed before adulthood.

How do you measure cataracts?

Using a slit lamp or a special device called an ophthalmoscope, your eye doctor can examine your lens for signs of a cataract. Applanation tonometry. This test measures fluid pressure in your eye. There are multiple different devices available to do this.

How long can you have a cataract before you go blind?

The National Eye Institute publishes that age-related cataracts can form in a person’s 40s or 50s, but they generally progress slowly enough that they do not start to really impair vision until age 60 or so.

When do cataracts need to be removed?

Cataracts only need removal when they cause significant vision loss.

What is the rarest type of cataract?

Christmas Tree or Polychromatic Cataract

This rare type of cataract refers to the appearance of colourful, iridescent crystals that form within the lens.

When should cataract surgery be done?

Normal vision (left) becomes blurred as a cataract forms (right). Cataract surgery is performed to treat cataracts. Cataracts can cause blurry vision and increase the glare from lights. If a cataract makes it difficult for you to carry out your normal activities, your doctor may suggest cataract surgery.

Who should not get cataract surgery?

For example, if you have advanced macular degeneration or a detached retina as well as cataracts, it’s possible that removing the cataract and replacing it with a clear intraocular lens (IOL) might not improve your eyesight. In such cases, cataract surgery may not be recommended.

What happens if you wait too long for cataract surgery?

Patients who wait more than 6 months for cataract surgery may experience negative outcomes during the wait period, including vision loss, a reduced quality of life and an increased rate of falls.

Do you still need to wear glasses after cataract surgery?

Because most IOLs used in cataract surgery can only provide clear distance or clear near vision, you will need glasses to correct for whatever the lens doesn’t provide. Usually, just one lens in your glasses needs to be updated for the eye that was operated on.

What percentage of cataract surgeries are successful?

High success rates

Most people do exceedingly well with cataract surgery. Its success rate is about 99 percent. Complications from cataract surgery are rare but may include corneal swelling and/or inflammation in the eyes.

Why is my eyesight getting worse after cataract surgery?

Cataract surgery removes the front part of the lens but leaves the back in place. That’s where you may get a secondary cataract, also called posterior capsule opacification (PCO). When that happens, your vision may get cloudy again. It usually happens eventually after cataract surgery.