By Tedler D. Depaynos, MD
A well known practicing civil engineer who has been a preceptor of many young ones had one of his eyes treated several years ago due to cataract. It started when the vision of one of his eyes seemed to be looking trhough a frosty window and reading was becoming difficult. He bought a series of several eyeglasses prescribed by his optometrist but eventually they became useless. His secretary tried enlarging the printed letters but he preferred using magnifying glasses. Driving especially at night was likewise difficult and there were times when he could not recognize who he was talking to unless he turned his head and concentrated using his other eye. The lens of his affected eye turned “white” and no longer transparent. It was blind! It was then surgically removed by an ophthalmologist and replaced with an artificial one which gave him a 20/20 vision until now.
Recently, he was again experiencing the same with his other eye. Aside from difficulty of reading, there were times when his vision with the other eye was tinged with yellow color. He was getting color blind. One of his secretaries once noticed that he appeared looking at the green traffic light as red causing several loud noisy horns behind them. He was again diagnosed with a cataract. He was somehow lucky that his eyes were not affected at the same time. He could have experienced being completely blind. It is unthinkable for a contractor to be completely blind!
From the literature, cataract comes from the Latin word “cataracta” which means “waterfall”. Since rapidly running water turns white, it is used to describe the similar mature ocular appearances of the opacities of the cataract. They cloud the normally clean lenses of the eyes.
There are 3 types which obviously only the well trained Ophthalmologist could diagnose. They are the nuclear cataracts which affect the center of the lens, the cortical cataracts, which affect the edges of the lens and the posterior subscapular cataracts, which affect the back of the lens.
Cataracts develop slowly and as they worsen they sometimes double the vision. It may also change the colors of things one sees. As a result frequent changing of glasses may ensue.
Cataracts may come in stages. 1st stage is characterized by small opacities which may not be detected for months or even years. 2nd stage is when vision starts to deteriorate and one may complain of fogginess and haloes around lights. The final stage is when the lens becomes “liquefied” and the vision is entirely obscure. The matured cataract is noticeable by its white color like appearance of “waterfall”. The patient is completely blind.
From our readings, cataracts are most common among the elderly and are called senile cataract. It may occur in people more than 50 yrs. old in both eyes. Since the engineer was a senior for a decade already, probably his age was the cause despite his denial. It may occur in younger individuals with diabetis. Smokers and those with prolonged exposure to sunlight may develop cataract. Chronic exposure to x-rays and intake of steroids may also contribute to its formation. In some instances, it may be hereditary. It may also be seen in newborns (congenital) especially if the mother was exposed to a virus infection like Rubella.
In early stages, anti-glare eyeglasses and use of hat with brim to block the sun may give relief but the final treatment for mature ones is surgery. No wonder the popular engineer was observed by his coffee mates to be wearing dark glasses most of the time and wearing a PBA hat. They thought that he used it only when visiting his projects.
Surgery for well trained ophthalmologists using high tech instrument is easy nowadays. Our engineer friend is now with a 20/20 vision on both eyes. He is just maintaining his new Ray Ban dark glasses.
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