Overview

Cataracts are cloudy areas that form on the lens of your eye. Your lens is a clear, flexible structure made mostly of proteins (crystallins). As you get older, the proteins in your lens break down, forming cloudy patches that affect your vision.

You may feel as if you’re looking at the world through a dirty window. Over time, your vision gets worse. You may have a hard time carrying out routine tasks.

Healthcare providers consider cataracts an inevitable part of aging, and age-related cataracts is the most common form of the condition.

But you don’t have to live with fading vision. Ophthalmologists can do surgery to remove the cataracts and restore your vision.

Types of cataracts

There are many types of cataracts. This article focuses on age-related cataracts. Other cataract types include:

  • Pediatric cataracts. Pediatric cataracts affect babies and children. Babies may be born with cataracts (congenital), or the cataracts may form sometime after birth. Pediatric cataracts typically run in families, but they can also happen due to eye injuries or other eye conditions. Babies and children with pediatric cataracts need prompt treatment to prevent problems like amblyopia (lazy eye).
  • Traumatic cataracts. These cataracts form when something injures your eye. Treatment for this type is more complicated because structures around the lens may also need repair.
  • Secondary cataracts. These are cloudy patches that form on your lens capsule, or the membrane that covers your lens. Another term for this condition is posterior capsular opacification. It’s a common but easily treatable complication of cataract surgery.
Types of age-related cataracts

There are several types of age-related cataracts. Their names refer to their location in your lens. To understand these types, it helps to learn a bit about the anatomy of your lens.

Your lens is made up of a few layers. You can think of them like the layers of an apple:

  • The nucleus is in the center of your lens. It’s like the core of the apple.
  • The cortex is the layer that surrounds the nucleus. It’s like the fruit you eat that surrounds the core.
  • The lens capsule is the thin membrane covering the cortex. It’s technically not part of the lens itself, but is instead like a close-fitting skin that covers and protects the lens. The lens capsule is a bit like the apple skin.

Eye care providers classify cataracts based on where they form in your lens. Often, people have more than one type at the same time. That’s because it’s common for cloudy patches to form in multiple areas of your lens. The three most common types of age-related cataracts are:

  • Nuclear sclerotic cataract, which forms in the nucleus.
  • Cortical cataract, which forms in the cortex.
  • Posterior subcapsular cataract, which forms in the posterior cortex. “Posterior” in this context means the “back” of your lens. This is the part that’s closest to your retina (which is behind your lens). “Subcapsular” means the cataract forms at the outer edge of the cortex, just beneath the lens capsule.

At what age do cataracts usually start?

The proteins in your eye’s lens start to break down around age 40. But you typically won’t notice symptoms until age 60 or later. Certain medical conditions, like diabetes, may cause you to have symptoms sooner.

How common are cataracts?

Cataracts are very common in the U.S. and globally. According to the World Health Organization, about 17% of people around the world have cataracts that cause problems with their vision. However, the prevalence varies widely by country and region. There’s a higher prevalence in middle-income and low-income nations where people often have more risk factors and limited access to cataract treatment.

In the U.S., nearly 1 in 5 people age 65 to 74 have cataracts that affect their vision. More than 50% of people over age 80 either have cataracts or had surgery to remove them.

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Complications

Blood clots are a dangerous complication of atrial fibrillation (AFib). Blood clots can lead to stroke.
The risk of stroke from AFib increases as you grow older. Other health conditions also may increase the risk of a stroke due to AFib. These conditions include:
  • High blood pressure.
  • Diabetes.
  • Heart failure.
  • Some types of heart valve disease.
Blood thinners are commonly prescribed to prevent blood clots and strokes in people with atrial fibrillation.

Prevention

Healthy lifestyle choices can reduce the risk of heart disease and may prevent atrial fibrillation (AFib). Here are some basic heart-healthy tips:
  • Control high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
  • Don't smoke or use tobacco.
  • Eat a diet that's low in salt and saturated fat.
  • Exercise at least 30 minutes a day on most days of the week unless your health care team says not to.
  • Get good sleep. Adults should aim for 7 to 9 hours daily.
  • Maintain a healthy weight.
  • Reduce and manage stress.


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