Cataract Doctors
At Elmquist Eye Group, our cataract doctors are leading the standard in cataract care in Florida. If you have been experiencing decreased or blurry vision as you age, you may have cataracts. Do you have difficulty reading, or has your prescription for glasses changed frequently over the last couple of years? Other symptoms include difficulty seeing at night or seeing halos around bright lights like headlights. Additionally, if you have poor color perception or poor depth perception, you may have cataracts.
Why Do People Get Cataracts?
Cataracts are not a disease, but rather a normal part of eye aging. Over half of people over age 60 have cataracts. In fact, as people grow older, nearly everyone will develop cataracts at some point, either in one or both eyes.
As we age, the natural proteins in the eye begin to clump together and cloud the normally transparent eye lens. Over time, the lens becomes progressively cloudy because the clumped proteins interfere with light passing through the eye to the retina. Early on, you may not notice any real change because it may not disturb your vision, but over time cataracts worsen and cause blurred or fuzzy vision as well as light sensitivity. Activities like reading, watching television and night driving become more difficult. Patients often describe their vision as if they are looking through wax paper or even a waterfall.
What is the Treatment for Cataracts?
Our cataract doctors will do multiple vision tests to determine the severity of your cataract. We typically recommend that cataracts be treated when they begin to affect your daily activities because of the decreased vision.
What Is Cataract Surgery?
Cataracts can only be corrected with surgery, which we do as an outpatient procedure that takes less than an hour. We do one eye at a time, and remove the cloudy natural lens and replace it with a clear artificial lens called an intraocular lens implant (IOL). This lens functions as your natural lens; you will not feel it. In fact, you won’t even know it is there. It is placed in the eye through a small incision that heals on its own, so you don’t have any stitches to take care of.
Most patients feel itchiness or sensitivity for a couple of days. By the next day, you can be back to watching TV and reading, and can usually return to work within two to five days. Because there are no stitches, you are usually not restricted from your normal activities for very long.
Come Visit Us
When you need exceptional cataract doctors, come see us at Elmquist Eye Group for your cataract treatment. Our cataract specialists are board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology, offering patients the latest advancements in eye care. It’s easy to schedule an appointment in any one of our convenient locations. Rest assured, we are confident in the ability of our cataract doctors to provide you with outstanding eye care.