A Visionary Investment In Your Eyes

It would be a little known fact outside the vision industry, that August is CATARACT AWARENESS MONTH.

Ho-hum you might say – but you really shouldn’t. If you are not aware of the damage cataracts can do to your eyes then you are in a bit of trouble.

Nobody can deny the design brilliance of the human species – but actually, as we live longer, chinks appear. One of those is, that as we grow older, our eyes can’t go the distance. The reality being cataracts will develop.

What do cataracts do? Heaps of really horrible things in truth!

What happens is that cataracts are a clouding of the eye’s natural lenses located behind the pupil. Blurred vision occurs and images are no longer sharp and discernible. Light which would normally focus onto the retina to supply clear images distorts, as the protein joins together.

This is part of the ageing process and as this ”fogginess” advances, vision is impaired and normal daily sight function is definitely affected. The clouding or yellowing process can take months to years to progress.

Six out of 10 people over 60 will develop cataracts and eight out of 10 over 80 will also have them. Pretty scary statistics considering it isn’t even on most people’s radar. There are signs which will indicate you have symptoms of a cataract. Watch out for:

• Reaching middle age
• The onset of sensitivity to light and glare
• Items need to be held closer to read them (No, your arms are not getting shorter)
• A strange yellowing or fading of colours
• You may find you need to be in a brighter light to read
• Night driving is becoming difficult as distances and lights can become distorted
• It can be increasingly difficult to judge stair heights or raised surfaces – quite dangerous this one
• Lights may have a sudden type of halo around them
• Blurred or double vision may occur
• Even those extra strength glasses are not addressing any of the above

If you are over 40 or have any of these symptoms – it’s time to have your eyes checked now.

The really great new is that cataracts can be corrected. Surgery is the solution. It is painless, quick and effective and the impact on restoring sight is little short of miraculous. It is best done sooner rather than later as the less dense the cataract, the easier its removal.

Eyes are precious and their care can only be placed in the very best of surgical hands. Experienced skill is now assisted by the latest of technology ensuring optimum outcome.

At the top of the tree when it comes to cataract removal technology is the Alcon LenSx System. This most innovative equipment enables ophthalmologists to deliver such exact precision, that it can provide a stable and clear optical path for the laser combined with an image-guidance system, to map ocular surfaces and establish safety zones allowing the surgeon to select and customise the treatment. This ensures that the femtosecond laser pulses are delivered precisely to the intended location.

The surgery is designed and programmed for your unique problem. The Refractive Laser Assisted Cataract Surgery is ground breaking. The laser creates an opening in the eye, the cloudy cataract is surgically removed and a new lens is implanted which will restore focus, peripheral vision and depth perception. All those things that had seemingly disappeared. The security of the precision is a given with the expertise of the surgeon and the defined accuracy of the Alcon LenSx System.

Recovery is seamless and painless. Vision is restored immediately after surgery. No general anesthetic is required and the patient can leave after a couple of hours.

It should be noted that personalEYES has the benefit of this state-of-the art technology. The Alcon LenSx System will debut in their Canberra clinic – and while it may not seem cause for celebration to the general public – it certainly is for all those at personalEYES.

It is a considerable investment on their part to provide the very best in vision correction. It is a measure of the confidence they have in the value of this equipment to their patients.

So, after reading this, if you think you may be a candidate for cataract removal, you need to contact personalEYES for industry best practice.