Cataracts are a common health condition, but many people still do not understand the causes, symptoms, and their own risk factors. The good news about cataracts is that, with early treatment by your eye doctor, treatments including cataract surgery in Chicago can save your vision and prevent permanent eye damage. In honor of May’s Cataract Awareness Month, take a moment to learn about this common vision problem and ways you can save your sight if it happens to you.

What Are Cataracts?

Cataracts cloud the lenses in your eyes, obscuring your vision. They can occur in one eye or both, but they are not contagious and cannot be transferred from one eye to the other. According to the National Eye Institute , over half of people over age 80 have at least one cataract or have had cataract surgery. Although they are commonly associated with aging, anyone can develop a cataract at any time.

What Are the Causes?

Cataracts are caused by proteins in your lenses that clump together to make your vision look cloudy. Age is the most significant risk factor, but smoking, excessive alcohol use, excessive sun exposure, and some chronic diseases, such as diabetes, can also increase the chances of developing cataracts.

What Are the Symptoms?

The first symptom many people with cataracts notice is cloudy vision. You may also notice that colors seem faded or that you’re experiencing double vision in the affected eye. Glare from headlights and lamps often seem more intense with cataracts, and night vision may worsen. Needing to adjust your eyeglasses or contact lenses prescription frequently could be the result of a growing cataract.

What Are the Treatments?

For some patients, eyeglasses work as an initial cataract treatment. If the cataract grows, surgery may be necessary. During cataract surgery, the damaged lens is removed and replaced with an artificial one. Even if your cataract does not interfere with your vision, you eye doctor may recommend that it be removed if it makes eye exams difficult or makes it more complicated to treat other eye conditions.

If you play sports regularly, you should ask an ophthalmologist near Chicago for tips on preventative eye care and protective eyewear. Opticians recommend that you wear protective eyewear during sports in order to reduce your risk of serious eye injury or damage. Here is a look at how eye doctors recommend you protect your eyes while playing high-risk, moderate-risk, and low-risk sports.

Eye Protection for High-Risk Sports

If you regularly play high-risk sports, your ophthalmologist will recommend that protective eyewear become a regular part of your eye care routine. Eye protection is particularly necessary if you wear contact lenses, as they put you at higher risk for eye injury and damage. High-risk sports include paintball, basketball, racquetball, softball, and football. These sports are high-risk because they involve swinging bats, fast moving balls, and heavy contact. You’re much more likely to need to visit an eye doctor for emergency eye care if you don’t wear protective eye wear while playing high-risk sports.

Eye Protection for Moderate-Risk Sports

Moderate-risk sports include golf, tennis, and soccer. While these sports still carry the risk of eye injury due to fast moving balls and swinging clubs and racquets, they are lower contact sports. Your eye doctor or ophthalmologist can recommend eyewear that will fully protect you from injury. It’s important to remember that wearing eyeglasses or sunglasses does not provide adequate protection from trauma, and the wrong eyewear might actually make an injury worse. You should visit your local optical center to discuss the most appropriate forms of protective eyewear for your sport.

Eye Protection for Low-Risk Sports

While low-risk sports are much less dangerous, they still care a risk of eye injury. Your optician can evaluate the level of risk and determine what form of protective eyeglasses you will need. Low-risk sports include swimming and cycling. You might need to wear protective goggles to eliminate the risk of eye irritation, scratches, and foreign objects becoming caught in your eyes. Again, this is particularly important if you wear contact lenses.

If your eye doctor or ophthalmologist recommends that you undergo eye surgery for vision correction in Chicago , you should ask him about Visian ICL. Visian ICL, a type of intraocular contact lens treatment, is an incredibly safe, effective form of eye surgery that results in significant vision correction. Intraocular contact lenses are contact lenses that are implanted directly into the lens of the eye for optimal vision correction.

You might qualify for Visian ICL eye surgery even if your eye doctor did not consider you a good candidate for LASIK surgery or other vision correction surgeries. Visian ICL is safe, and provides predictable, stable vision correction. Unlike disposable or gas permeable contact lenses, intraocular contact lenses do not require cleaning or maintenance, and can remain in your eyes even while you sleep, bathe, and swim. This means that you won’t have to deal with the frequent eye care associated with removable contact lenses.

An eye doctor can remove your intraocular contact lenses if you experience problems. Visian ICL eye surgery offers vision correction for a variety of eye problems, including mild to severe myopia and astigmatism. The eye surgery doesn’t carry the risk of dry eye syndrome.

Eye doctors in Chicago and across the country often recommend that patients wear protective eyewear while playing sports in order to prevent or lower the risk of serious eye injuries. An eye injury can cause permanent damage to your eye, and may necessitate a visit to an ophthalmologist for emergency eye care or eye surgery. Here is a look at some important facts about sports eye injuries and maintaining eye care while playing sports.

Understanding Common Sports-Related Eye Injuries

The most common causes of sports-related eye injuries are fast moving balls, swinging clubs or bats, and aggressive contact between players. The sports that result in the most eye injuries are high-contact sports such as basketball, baseball, and racquet sports. A sports-related eye injury can be blunt, penetrating, or radiating. Regardless of how minor an injury seems, it’s crucial that you visit an ophthalmologist or eye doctor as soon as possible to evaluate the extent of the injury and receive appropriate eye care.

Preventing Injuries While Playing Sports

Eye doctors, opticians, and ophthalmologists recommend that everyone wear protective eyewear when participating in any type of sporting event. The eyewear that your doctor recommends will depend upon whether the sport is high-risk, moderate-risk, or low-risk. Eyeglasses and sunglasses are not appropriate protective eyewear, and if you wear contact lenses, you’re at a higher risk of a serious eye injury. Your optical center might carry certified safety eyewear that is appropriate for the sport you play. If they don’t, your eye doctor can refer you to a sporting goods store or specialist for protective eyewear.

Recognizing When Emergency Eye Care Is Necessary

Not every eye injury necessitates emergency eye care. If you sustain an eye injury that results in sudden vision loss, severe pain in or around the eye, bulging or swelling of eye tissues, double vision, excessive discharge or tearing, or new or extreme floaters, halos, flashes, or streaks of light, visit an optical center for emergency eye care. Your eye doctor or ophthalmologist will perform diagnostic tests to determine whether you’ll need eye surgery.

If your eye doctor has diagnosed you with astigmatism, you might need specialized eye care in Chicago . Astigmatism results from a distortion in the shape of your eye’s cornea, causing blurry vision that necessitates vision correction via eyeglasses or contact lenses. Your ophthalmologist might be able to reverse or slow the progression of astigmatism by fitting you with special contact lenses that slowly correct the shape of your eyes.

Watch this video to learn more about astigmatism and how it affects your vision. An experienced ophthalmologist discusses the signs and symptoms of astigmatism, and explains how an eye doctor can treat the condition. An optician or ophthalmologist at your local optical center can offer comprehensive eye care services to treat your astigmatism.

How often do you think about eye care ? It’s possible that this topic may rank low on your health priority list—after all, you probably only visit an eye doctor in Chicago when you need a new prescription for your contact lenses. However, your sight is critically important in living your everyday life. This month, remember to care for your eyes in every aspect of your life, including your time at the workplace.

Eye Protection in the Workplace

One of the easiest things you can do to prevent eye injuries in the workplace is to wear eye protection, even if you think you’ll be fine without it. Many eye injuries in the workplace are caused by chemical splashes or small particle abrasion, including small pieces of flying metal or wood. Not only could such an injury require eye surgery, or worse, cost you your eyesight, it could also be incredibly expensive. According to the United States Department of Labor, work-related eye injuries have a price tag of over $300 million per year resulting from lost production time, medical expenditures, and compensation for employees. Finally, if you’re a healthcare worker, it’s important to remember that proper eye protection can prevent infectious diseases from being transferred through the membrane of the eye.

Eye Strain Prevention

If you work in an office setting, there are still some eye care factors that you need to consider. Overexposing your eyes to computer, tablet, and smartphone screens can cause eye strain, headaches, and lower your productivity. The main reason for this is that when people focus on digital screen devices, they tend to blink less than normal, causing the eyes to become dry and strained. You can prevent the symptoms of eye strain by remembering to blink frequently. If you feel your eyes need additional moisture, use artificial tears or an air humidifier. In addition, be sure your eyes are not too close to the computer screen. Keeping it about two feet (or more) away from your eyes should also help in reducing eye strain. Lastly, take frequent breaks to allow your eyes to adjust and refocus.

If you’re looking for eye glasses near Chicago for your child, you may be wondering if computer and television screen time have contributed to his or her nearsightedness. While you’re not alone in this question, there is not a lot of firm medical evidence indicating that screen time causes nearsightedness or eye problems in children. However, there is some speculative evidence suggesting a correlation between time spent reading up close and nearsightedness.

Watch this video from the American Academy of Ophthalmology to listen to an eye doctor speak about screen time and kids’ eyes. According to this optician, the best thing you can do is to encourage your children to interact with people and the outside environment rather than spending their time behind a screen. Not only will this benefit their eye care, it will also encourage socialization and discourage a sedentary lifestyle.

Cataract surgery is a safe and straightforward process that will improve your vision and help you lead a normal lifestyle. Cataracts cause the eye lenses to become cloudy, preventing light from reaching the eye, and hindering normal vision. Cataracts usually occur in older adults, and they are especially common in those with diabetes. Fortunately, your ophthalmologist in Chicago can reverse this condition and improve your vision with cataract surgery.

The cataract surgery process begins with an evaluation by your eye doctor. He or she will perform several tests to see how severe your cataracts are. Then, the optician will explain the cataract treatment process to you, along with its risks.

With your consent, the eye doctor will begin the surgery by giving you a local anesthetic. He or she will break up your clouded lens using sensitive ultrasound vibrations and remove it using suction. Finally, the doctor will replace the old lens with a new, artificial one. Upon your request, this new lens can be modified to give you better vision than you’ve ever had before.

Looking for an optician in Chicago to relieve your computer eye strain? Computer eye strain is becoming a common problem, as technology has found its way into our personal and professional lives. Fortunately, there are some measures your eye doctor may recommend to prevent eye strain while using the computer.

1. Have your eyes examined.

In order to prevent or treat vision problems, the first and most important thing you should do is visit your ophthalmologist for a yearly eye exam. He or she will be able to notify you of any current problems and test your eyes at a specific working distance. That way, you’ll have a better idea of how to prevent future eye strain.

2. Get an upgrade.

Is your computer basically a retro novelty item? It might be time for an upgrade. Flat screen LCD displays, such as those you see on modern laptops, are so much easier on the eyes than old tube-style monitors because they have a higher resolution and don’t cause images to flicker. If possible, go ahead and choose a large display—doing so will make computer time a more comfortable experience for your eyes.

3. Ask for computer eye glasses.

Your local optical center can provide you with a special prescription for computer eye glasses. This is a great choice for those whose current eyewear is uncomfortable after an extended time behind the screen. For example, those who wear contact lenses may often note that they become dry and irritating after computer work. In addition, bifocals or progressive lenses are not optimal for computer usage; computer glasses may be a better choice during screen time.

4. Take mini-breaks.

It’s important to give your eyes—and your neck, back, and shoulders—several breaks throughout the workday if you spend most of your time at the computer. There’s no need to worry that doing so will cause you to lose focus. Mini-breaks should actually increase your productivity and improve how you feel while you’re working. In addition, they reduce the risk that your eyes will “lock up” after prolonged digital screen usage.

Intraocular lenses (IOLs), or intraocular implants, are lenses that an ophthalmologist near Chicago can implant in a person’s eyes. Patients with cataracts may be good candidates for IOLs. During cataract surgery , the ophthalmologist removes the cloudy lens of the affected eye and replaces it with the artificial lens to restore proper vision.

Function of IOLs

Cataracts are areas of the eye’s natural lens that become cloudy and obscure vision. They are quite common among older adults. Since a cataract is not a growth that can be removed, it is necessary to remove the entire lens of the eye. The artificial IOLs that are inserted in place of the natural lens work in the same way. Light enters the eye through the cornea. The lens focuses the light on the retina, which allows the optic nerve to carry the images to the brain. Unlike the eye’s natural lens; however, IOLs are customizable. Before the ophthalmologist performs the eye surgery, he or she determines the appropriate prescription of IOL for the individual patient.

Candidates for IOLs

Only an ophthalmologist can determine if someone is a good candidate for cataract surgery. Since cataracts can develop for many years without causing any symptoms, most people will not necessarily have to have the surgery right away. Generally, cataract surgery may be recommended for patients who are over the age of 40 and who are experiencing poor night vision, sensitivity to light, blurry vision, or other visual disturbances.

Procedure for IOL Placement

About a week before the surgery is scheduled, the ophthalmologist will perform a non-invasive test to measure the size and shape of the eye. He or she uses this information to select the right IOL for the patient. The patient may be asked to stop taking certain medications for a week prior to the procedure. Antibiotic eye drops may also be applied for a few days to reduce the chances of an infection. The surgery itself typically takes an hour or less to perform. The ophthalmologist will place eye drops to dilate the eyes and then apply a local anesthetic. Then, the ophthalmologist can remove the cloudy lens using an ultrasound probe to break it up. Finally, the eye doctor places the IOL into the lens capsule.