Medical Questions » Eyes Questions » Question No. 348
| Question: | My friend is to have cataract surgery to fit a new lens into one eye. Why is only one eye done? After the operation, can he read with one eye without glasses? |
| Answer: | A cataract is clouding of the lens within the eye. It has the effect of reducing the amount of light entering the eye, and blurring the vision. It is rather like trying to look through frosted glass rather than clear glass.
In the operation, the natural cloudy lens is removed and a clear artificial lens is inserted.
The most noticeable effect after the operation is the brightness of the world. Colours in particular appear far brighter than the washed out appearance they have through a cloudy lens. The ability to read and see objects clearly certainly improves after the operation, but usually not to the point whete glasses can be dispensed with altogether. A few weeks after the operation your friends eyes will be tested, and he will be fitted with new spectacles that may well have totally different strengths in each lens. He may be able to cope for short periods of time using his good eye only, but this would be awkward, and lead to a further deterioration of vision in the bad eye.
Only one eye at a time is operated upon in most patients. Surgeons like to ensure that everything has gone well with one operation before they proceed with the second eye a few months later.
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