Nuclear cataract of the eyes is a disease of the visual organ, which leads to a decrease in the transparency of the lens through clouding of its nucleus, impairing the patient’s vision. This type of disease progresses in older people and accounts for 90 percent of cases of cataracts. Most pathology affects people over 60 years old. It can also appear in people with diabetes or in those who suffer from thyroid disease. Rarely, a patient is diagnosed with a congenital form of the disease. Nuclear cataract of the eyes in elderly people is characterized by slow progression, does not lead to pain and does not affect the quality of vision of objects located at a long distance.
Features of the development of pathology
Senile nuclear cataract - what is it? The disease described can progress for several years. In this case, vision becomes worse in bright light due to the narrowing of the pupil. A substance located in the central part of the nucleus, over time, turns into a thick consistency and changes its color to black or brown. Pathology is irreversible and changes stages over time.
If an elderly person suddenly has a sharp decrease in visual acuity, there is pain, then it is important for him to perform the operation without fail. It is necessary to treat such a disease, since otherwise there will come an irreversible loss of vision and complete blindness.
Stages of the development of the disease
There are the following stages of the development of the pathological process:
- Initial. With it, the pathological process does not extend beyond the nucleus of the ball, opacities appear only in some places, most of the lens remains intact and transparent. All changes do not bring any pain and pass unnoticed to the patient. Myopia or farsightedness begins to appear. The duration of the stage reaches in some cases up to 10 years.
- Immature Turbidity spreads to most of the lens cortex. The lens itself becomes larger in size, the depth of the anterior chamber of the eye decreases significantly. As a result of the described processes, intraocular pressure rises significantly, and vision becomes worse.
- Mature. Clouding spreads over all layers of the lens, which as a result reduces its size. The patient continues to see well large objects, but cannot recognize their colors.
- The despised stage is the final stage of the progression of nuclear cataract, is considered the most dangerous and includes two development options. First: the clouded lens of the eye decreases significantly in size, becomes denser, which as a result leads to the formation of a shiny plaque. Second: protein molecules disappear, the lens substance liquefies, and the osmotic pressure index increases. The nucleus of the lens drops and resolves over time, as a result of which the patient’s vision disappears over time.
Causes of ailment
To know as much as possible about this disease, it is necessary to consider in more detail the causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention of nuclear cataract.
The described disease can occur under the influence of many factors associated primarily with the aging process of the body. The main reasons doctors include:
- The process of active aging of the lens. Over time, obsolete cells accumulate in the lens, preventing nutrients from reaching the nucleus normally. Such a process provokes a clouding of the nucleus and the development of the disease.
- The action of ultraviolet rays in a large volume. Rays of ultraviolet radiation adversely affect the organs of vision, the lens and its components, leading to a complication of nuclear cataracts. The patient may notice a change in eye shade.
- Abuse of bad habits. Drinks with any dose of alcohol in the composition, smoking, maintaining the wrong lifestyle - all this negatively affects the human body and can cause the development of the disease.
- Chronic diseases Chronic pathologies can cause the formation of cataracts.
- Mechanical damage to the organs of vision. Blunt injuries, acute injuries can lead to eye disease.
- Long-term use of medications, as well as their incorrect dosage. These include corticosteroids and antimalarial drugs.
First symptoms of malaise
At the initial stage of its development, the disease does not cause the patient any unpleasant sensations - there is no discomfort. Vision remains normal.
The disease develops slowly over several years. A person almost does not notice anything unusual and does not complain about the quality of vision. But in the future, the following symptoms of nuclear cataract suddenly appear:
- confusion and bifurcation of the picture;
- eyes react poorly to bright light in the room, begin to watery, blush;
- from time to time, the patient ceases to distinguish the colors and shades of the objects surrounding him;
- a sharp decrease in visual acuity in poor lighting and in dark places;
- in some cases, the patient feels a cloudy film on his eyes;
- redness of the eyes;
- severe and sharp pain in the head.
Features of progression
From time to time, a person with a pathology changes the color of the pupil, and myopia also develops actively, which cannot be corrected by wearing glasses. Patients begin to complain about difficulties with reading, writing, and working with small objects.
As the pathology progresses, the lens changes its shape - it becomes convex. Symptoms are not treatable with drops and dietary supplements.
At later stages (immature and mature), visual acuity rapidly decreases, objective vision disappears, the patient focuses only on light perception. With the maturation of a nuclear cataract, the color of the pupil changes from black to milky white. When the described symptoms appear, it is important to immediately go to an ophthalmologist.
Diagnostic measures
To conduct a diagnosis of the disease, you need to go to an ophthalmologist who will conduct all the necessary studies:
- ultrasound scanning;
- biomicroscopy;
- examination of the organ of vision using transmitted light;
- will determine intraocular pressure.
Using ophthalmoscopy, the doctor will be able to determine the condition of the fundus, and biomicroscopy will examine in detail the condition of the eyeball using a slit lamp.
With severe clouding of the lens, an examination of entopic phenomena is used that helps to fully determine the state of the neuroreceptor apparatus of the retina.
Additional diagnostics
In some cases, the attending physician prescribes additional diagnostics to the patient:
- refractometry
- ophthalmometry;
- Ultrasound scanning of the organs of vision.
During the examination, the doctor will be able to determine the strength of the intraocular lens and choose a more comprehensive and effective treatment. It is most important to determine the presence of eye disease in the early stages of its progression.
This will help to avoid surgery and increase the chance of a favorable outcome. For prevention, older people need to be examined 2-3 times a year in a medical institution, which will help determine pathological processes at an early stage of development.
Therapeutic measures
A cataract of this nature differs from other ophthalmic diseases in that traditional therapeutic methods do not act on it and do not bring the desired result. The best way to treat nuclear cataracts is an operation in which the cataract is removed and an artificial prosthesis is replaced with a clouded lens.
Surgery is allowed to be carried out at any stage of the development of pathology. It is carried out under local anesthesia, the duration of the procedure is 1 hour.
Types of eye surgery
Depending on the complexity of the nuclear cataract, the operation can be intracapsular or extracapsular:
- when using the intracapsular method, the doctor removes the nucleus of the lens, while maintaining its capsule;
- The extracapsular method involves extracting the capsule with the lens inside.
Regardless of the technique chosen, the result of the operation always remains the same - a clouded lens is replaced with an intraocular lens. If the operation goes well, the doctor does not see any complications and no difficulties, then after 2-3 hours the patient is sent home.
Rehabilitation after surgery lasts a month. The result of surgery will directly depend on the state of the lens, the model of the artificial lens, the chosen method of operation, and patient compliance with the doctor’s instructions during the rehabilitation period. In most patients, after surgery, vision is quickly restored and the problems go away.
Cataract Drops
It is important to remember that conservative treatment (taking medications) will bring results only at the initial stage of cataract progression. With the help of drugs, you can stop the spread of the lens opacities, but you can’t get rid of the existing changes. Of the drugs, drops are most often used to treat such ailment.
Drops help restore metabolism in the tissues of the visual organ, and they contain a large amount of cysteine, ascorbic acid and glutamine. No less important components in the composition of the drops are trace elements and vitamins.
Experts recommend choosing the following tools:
- "Taufon" and "Taurine" - contain the active substance taurine.
- "Catachrome" is a combined remedy, the active substances of which are adenosine, nicotinamide and cytochrome C.
- "Quinax" - drops with azapentacene in the composition.
Despite the availability of drops and the content of a large number of useful components in their composition, it is not always possible to achieve the desired therapeutic result from them. They need to be used only at the first stage of the disease, when the turbidity did not manage to spread too widely.