How cataracts affect your vision

Every time you glance out a window, take in the faces of loved ones, or enjoy a favorite TV show, the lens of your eye is hard at work focusing light into clear images. So what happens when that lens begins to lose its clarity? The experience is often compared to looking through a dirty window or a sheet of wax paper, and that is what vision can feel like as cataracts develop.

Cataracts form when proteins in the eye's lens clump together, making it harder for light to pass through clearly. Early on, while the clumps are small, the changes are subtle and easy to miss. Objects may lose some sharpness, vision may blur slightly, and distant objects may look fuzzier, while close-up vision temporarily improves in a phenomenon called a myopic shift. If you notice any of these changes, your first move is to schedule an appointment with your eye doctor for an updated glasses or contact lens prescription.

Cataracts generally develop gradually in both eyes, though some people lose more vision in one eye than the other. As the clouding thickens, blurring worsens, and you may struggle to see while driving at night or to read fine print and other details.

Over time, cataracts can make colors fade, night driving difficult, and everyday tasks like reading or recognizing faces increasingly challenging. A yellowish haze may tint everything you see, contributing to a loss of detailed vision. At first, updating your glasses prescription may restore clear enough sight. Eventually, though, the clouding worsens until you need cataract surgery to drive or manage many daily activities.

Surgery is the only real treatment for cataracts; no drops, pills, or dietary changes can make them go away. Without it, cataracts can progress to legal blindness (a visual acuity of 20/200 or less) or even total blindness. Today, most people have surgery long before their vision becomes severely limited.