Do Glasses Help When You Have Cataracts?
Yes, glasses may improve your vision during the early stages of cataracts. As a cataract progresses, however, changing your glasses prescription usually becomes less effective. Glasses cannot remove or reverse a cataract because they do not correct the clouding inside the eye.
Cataract surgery is the only treatment that removes the cloudy natural lens and replaces it with a clear artificial lens. However, you may not need surgery immediately if glasses still provide adequate vision for your daily activities.
What Is a Cataract?
A cataract develops when the normally clear natural lens inside your eye becomes cloudy. The lens helps focus light onto the retina so that you can see clear images.
As the lens becomes cloudier, light cannot pass through it normally. Your vision may begin to appear blurry, hazy, dim or yellowed. Cataracts usually develop gradually and become more common with age.
Common cataract symptoms include:
- Blurry or cloudy vision
- Difficulty seeing clearly at night
- Glare from sunlight, lamps or headlights
- Halos around lights
- Faded or yellowed colors
- Increased sensitivity to bright light
- Double vision in one eye
- Frequent changes in your glasses prescription
- Needing brighter light to read
- Difficulty recognizing faces or seeing fine details
How Can Glasses Help With Cataracts?
Early cataracts can change the way your eye focuses light. This may alter your prescription and make your existing glasses feel less effective.
A new prescription may sharpen your vision by correcting accompanying nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism. Some people can maintain comfortable, functional vision for months or even years with updated glasses.
Depending on your needs, your eye doctor may recommend:
- A new distance prescription
- Stronger reading glasses
- Bifocal or progressive lenses
- Prescription sunglasses
- Anti-reflective lens coatings
- Separate glasses for driving or computer use
The National Eye Institute confirms that a new prescription for glasses or contact lenses may help people see better during the early stages of cataracts. Brighter lighting, magnification and anti-glare sunglasses may also be useful. Learn more from the National Eye Institute.
Why Do Cataracts Cause Frequent Prescription Changes?
Cataracts can change the shape and optical properties of your natural lens. As a result, your prescription may become more nearsighted or otherwise fluctuate as the cataract develops.
Some people experience a temporary improvement in their ability to read without glasses. This is sometimes called “second sight,” but it does not mean the cataract is improving. Distance vision, night vision and overall visual quality may continue to deteriorate.
If you need new glasses much more frequently than usual, an eye examination can determine whether cataracts or another condition is responsible.
What Cataract Symptoms Can Glasses Not Correct?
Glasses focus light, but they cannot make a cloudy natural lens clear again. As cataracts become more advanced, you may still experience the following problems even when wearing the correct prescription:
- Glare from headlights
- Halos around lights
- Poor night vision
- Reduced contrast
- Faded or dull colors
- Hazy or foggy vision
- Difficulty seeing in dim lighting
- Vision that never becomes completely sharp
Anti-reflective coatings or tinted lenses may reduce some glare, but they cannot remove its underlying cause when that cause is a cataract.
How Do You Know When Glasses Are No Longer Enough?
The decision to consider cataract surgery is usually based on how your vision affects your daily life—not simply on the presence of a cataract.
It may be time to discuss surgery if you are having difficulty:
- Driving safely, especially at night
- Reading books, labels or medication instructions
- Working or using a computer
- Watching television
- Recognizing faces
- Navigating stairs or unfamiliar surroundings
- Enjoying hobbies that require detailed vision
- Performing normal household activities
You may also notice that new glasses provide little improvement or that their benefit lasts for only a short time.
Most people do not need to rush into cataract surgery. Your ophthalmologist can monitor the cataract and help you determine when its effects justify treatment.
Can Cataracts Be Treated Without Surgery?
No medication, eye drop, supplement or pair of glasses has been proven to remove an existing cataract.
During the early stages, symptoms may be managed with:
- An updated glasses prescription
- Brighter task lighting
- Anti-glare sunglasses
- Magnifying lenses
- Larger text on phones and computers
- Limiting nighttime driving when glare is severe
These measures may make daily activities easier, but they do not stop or reverse the clouding of the lens. Cataract surgery remains the only way to remove a cataract.
What Happens During Cataract Surgery?
During cataract surgery, the ophthalmologist removes the cloudy natural lens and replaces it with a clear artificial lens called an intraocular lens, or IOL.
The artificial lens remains permanently inside the eye. Different IOL options may be available depending on your eye health, prescription and vision goals.
Cataract surgery is typically considered when your cataract interferes with activities that are important to you. Approximately 9 out of 10 people see better following the procedure, according to the National Eye Institute.
Will You Still Need Glasses After Cataract Surgery?
Possibly. Your need for glasses after surgery depends on several factors, including:
- The type of artificial lens selected
- Your remaining prescription
- Whether you have astigmatism
- Your desired reading and distance vision
- The health of your cornea, retina and optic nerve
Some patients need glasses mainly for reading. Others may need them for distance, computer work or both. Certain advanced lens options can reduce dependence on glasses, but no lens can guarantee that you will never need glasses again.
Your cataract surgeon can explain the available lens choices and help set realistic expectations based on your eyes and lifestyle.
Schedule a Cataract Evaluation in Las Vegas
If your vision remains blurry despite wearing glasses—or you are experiencing glare, halos or difficulty driving at night—a comprehensive eye examination can determine whether cataracts are responsible.
The ophthalmologists at Meadows Eye Physicians & Surgeons can evaluate your cataracts, update your prescription when appropriate and help you decide whether cataract surgery may offer better vision.
Call (702) 358-0472 to schedule a cataract evaluation.