Nuclear cataract of the eye is a disease of the visual organ, which leads to a decrease in the transparency of the lens by clouding its nucleus, impairing the patient's vision. This type of disease progresses in older people and accounts for 90 percent of cases when cataracts are detected. People over 60 years of age are more susceptible to pathology. 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 eye cataract in the elderly is slow progressing, does not lead to pain and does not affect the quality of vision of distant objects.
Features of the development of pathology
Seniary nuclear cataract - what is it? The described disease can progress over several years. At the same time, vision becomes worse in bright light due to pupil constriction. The substance located in the central part of the nucleus turns into a thick consistency over time and changes its color to black or brown. Pathology is characterized by an irreversible form and changes stages over time.
If an elderly person suddenly has a sharp decrease in visual acuity, pain appears, then it is important for him to have an operation without fail. It is imperative to treat such a disease, otherwise there will be irreversible loss of vision and complete blindness.
Stages of disease progression
There are the following stages in the development of the pathological process:
- Initial. With it, the pathological process does not extend beyond the core of the ball, opacities appear only in some places, most of the lens remains unaffected and transparent. All changes do not bring any pain and go unnoticed by the patient. Nearsightedness or farsightedness begins to appear. The duration of the stage reaches in some cases up to 10 years.
- Unripe. Opacities extend to most of the cortex of the lens. 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. The opacification spreads through all layers of the lens, which reduces its size as a result. The patient continues to see large objects well, but cannot recognize their colors.
- The mature stage is the final stage in the progression of nuclear cataract, is considered the most dangerous and includes two development options. First: the clouded lens of the eye is significantly reduced in size, becomes denser, which results inthe formation of a shiny plaque. Second: protein molecules disappear, the lens substance liquefies, and the osmotic pressure index increases. The nucleus of the lens descends and dissolves over time, causing the patient's vision to disappear over time.
Causes of malaise
In order to know as much as possible about this disease, one should take a closer look at the causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention of nuclear cataracts.
The described disease can occur under the influence of many factors, primarily related to 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 clouding of the nucleus and the development of the disease.
- The action of ultraviolet rays in large volume. Ultraviolet rays adversely affect the organs of vision, the lens and components in its composition, lead to a complication of nuclear cataract. The patient may notice a change in the shade of the eyes.
- Abuse of bad habits. Drinks with any dose of alcohol in the composition, smoking, leading an unhe althy lifestyle - all this adversely affects the human body and can cause the development of the disease.
- Chronic diseases. Chronic pathologies can cause cataract formation.
- Mechanical damage to the organs of vision. Blunt trauma, acute woundscan 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 any discomfort to the patient - 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 a nuclear cataract suddenly appear:
- vagueness and splitting of the picture;
- eyes do not react well to bright light in the room, start watering, blush;
- the patient from time to time ceases to distinguish colors and shades of the objects around him;
- a sharp decrease in visual acuity in poor lighting and in dark places;
- in some cases, the patient feels a cloudy film on the eyes;
- red 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 also actively develops myopia, which cannot be corrected by wearing glasses. Patients begin to complain of difficulty reading, writing, and handling small objects.
As the pathology progresses, the lens changes its shape - it becomes convex. Symptoms do not respond to drops and supplements.
In later stages (immature and mature) visual acuitydecreases rapidly, object vision disappears, the patient focuses only on light perception. As a nuclear cataract matures, the pupil color changes from black to milky white. If the described symptoms appear, it is important to immediately go to an appointment with an ophthalmologist.
Diagnostic measures
To diagnose the disease, you need to go to an appointment with an ophthalmologist who will conduct all the necessary studies:
- ultrasound scan;
- biomicroscopy;
- examination of the organ of vision with transmitted light;
- determine intraocular pressure.
With the help of ophthalmoscopy, the doctor will be able to determine the condition of the fundus, and with biomicroscopy, he 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, which 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 select a more comprehensive and effective treatment. The most important thing is to determine the presence of eye disease in the early stages of its progression.
That's ithelp avoid surgery and increase the chance of a favorable outcome. For prevention purposes, older people need to be examined at a medical institution 2-3 times a year, which will help to identify pathological processes at an early stage of development.
Treatment measures
A cataract of this nature differs from other ophthalmic diseases in that traditional treatment methods do not work on it and do not bring the desired result. The best treatment for a nuclear cataract is surgery to remove the cataract and replace the clouded lens with an artificial prosthesis.
Surgery is allowed to be carried out at any stage of pathology development. 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;
- extracapsular method involves removing the capsule with the lens inside.
Regardless of the chosen technique, the result of the operation always remains the same - the clouded lens is replaced with an intraocular lens. If the operation goes well, without complications and the doctor does not see any difficulties, then after 2-3 hours the patient is sent home.
Rehabilitation after surgery lasts a month. The result of the surgical intervention will directly depend on the condition of the lens, the model of the artificial lens, the chosen method of operation, and the patient's compliance with the doctor's instructions during the rehabilitation period. In most patients, after surgery, vision is quickly restored and problems go away.
Drops against cataracts
It is important to remember that conservative treatment (medication) will bring results only at the initial stage of cataract progression. With the help of drugs, it is possible to stop the process of spreading the clouding of the lens, but it will not be possible to get rid of existing changes. Of the drugs, drops are most often used to treat such an 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 ingredient taurine.
- "Katachrom" is a combined remedy, the active ingredients 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 effect from them.result. They should be used only at the first stage of the disease, when the turbidity has not had time to spread too widely.
