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Eye doctor examines older patient with slit lamp in modern clinical setting
✓ region.com.auScience & Systems

Cataracts can hit younger people too, and surgery now takes just minutes

Cataracts affect younger people too. Modern surgery removes and replaces the lens in about 5 to 10 minutes.

Signs of cataracts include glasses that seem dirty. You might be sensitive to glare at night.

Your reading vision may suddenly improve. Cataracts might be the reason.

Cataracts cloud the eye's lens. This causes blurred vision.

They are common in older people. Younger people get them too.

This can happen from genetics, trauma, or steroid use. Sometimes they start on their own.

Different types affect people in different ways. Nuclear cataracts change your distance-to-near focus.

Posterior subcapsular cataracts hurt reading vision more. They are more common in younger people.

Cortical cataracts make you sensitive to glare. Modern surgery is no longer a major operation.

Surgeons remove the cloudy lens. They replace it with an artificial one.

The whole thing takes about 5 to 10 minutes per eye. Success rates are high and recovery is quick.

Acting before cataracts become dense makes surgery simpler. It also makes recovery faster.

5 to 10 minutes per eye
Surgery time
Cataracts
Leading cause of blindness
Canberra
Clinic location
Dr Richard Barry
Principal surgeon

Why it mattersUndiagnosed cataracts take years of quality of life. They make it hard to drive and read. Surgery can restore this quickly and permanently.

AustraliaAustralian eye clinics now offer same-day surgery on both eyes, letting patients return home the same day instead of making multiple trips.

✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 2 h ago

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