Causes, incidence, and risk factors
- Eye inflammation
- Eye injury
- Family history of cataracts
- Long-term use of corticosteroids (taken by mouth) or certain other medications
- Radiation exposure
- Smoking
- Surgery for another eye problem
- Too much exposure to ultraviolet light (sunlight)
Symptoms
- Mild clouding of the lens often occurs after age 60, but it may not cause any vision problems.
- By age 75, most people have cataracts that affect their vision.
- Being sensitive to glare
- Cloudy, fuzzy, foggy, or filmy vision
- Difficulty seeing at night or in dim light
- Double vision
- Loss of color intensity
- Problems seeing shapes against a background or the difference between shades of colors
- Seeing halos around lights
- Frequent changes in eyeglass prescription
Signs and tests
Treatment
- Better eyeglasses
- Better lighting
- Magnifying lenses
- Sunglasses