Cataracts can significantly impact your daily life, making it more difficult to perform routine tasks due to blurry and diminished vision. Cataract development can cause several symptoms aside from blurry vision, as well.
While cataracts don’t affect your brain, headaches can develop from the stress they cause. As your vision gradually declines, your eyes will begin to strain in an attempt to clear your vision.
The straining of your vision can cause more symptoms, including headaches. Keep reading to learn more about cataracts and if they cause headaches!
What Are Cataracts, Exactly?
One of the critical components of clear vision is the lens in your eye. The lens is a clear, round piece of tissue that can stretch and move inside the eye.
It adjusts so you can change the distance you are looking at and helps focus your vision. A cataract occurs when proteins break down and clump together inside the lens, making it cloudy.
Typically, these proteins are arranged perfectly so light can pass through. Due to various factors like age, the proteins can begin to break down.
As they break down, the lens begins to lose transparency. It will start to take on a dirty, yellow, and brown tint.
Left untreated, it eventually blocks out all light, leading to blindness.
What Are Some Cataract Symptoms To Look For?
Cataracts typically develop gradually. Early on, changes in your vision may not even be very noticeable.
In between the early stages and total vision loss, there are plenty of warning signs:
Blurry Vision
Cataracts cause the lenses to become hazy, making it difficult to focus your vision.
When your vision is blurry, you may also begin to strain to see things better. When this happens, it can create other secondary symptoms like headaches and eye fatigue.
Seeing Double
You may see a ghosted image of whatever you are focusing on.
Light Sensitivity
Cataracts can cause light to scatter inside the eye. This can make being in direct sunlight very uncomfortable.
Poor Night Vision
Low-light areas are particularly difficult to see in with cataracts since they block out what little light there is.
Faded Colors
The yellow tint that cataracts have gives that color to everything you see. The world might seem more washed out instead of vibrant.
Is Cataract Surgery Safe?
Cataract surgery is considered to be one of the safest procedures. The procedure is very straightforward and effective, and the technology behind it is proven.
During cataract surgery, your cataract surgeon will remove the lens where the cataract is and replace it with an artificial lens. Your cataract surgeon creates an opening in the eye and uses a special tool to break down the lens into tiny pieces.
The pieces are then carefully removed. Your cataract surgeon will then replace it with an artificial lens of your choosing so that you can continue to see.
You and your doctor will choose the kind of lens that best suits you before the surgery begins. Cataract surgery can restore your vision and eliminate other symptoms caused by cataracts, including headaches.
After cataract surgery, your eyes will no longer need to strain to be able to see. For this reason, if your headaches are strictly caused by eye strain due to cataracts, you will likely no longer have headaches after cataract surgery.
Are you experiencing symptoms of cataracts or think your headaches could be connected to vision strain? Schedule an appointment at Chicago Cornea Consultants in Hoffman Estates, IL, today!
