The main factor for the appearance of cataracts is exposure to ultraviolet rays, said on Saturday the Mexican doctor Cristina Mendoza, deputy Hospital Nuestra Señora de Luz in Mexico City.
During the 34th edition of the Pan American Congress of Ophthalmology, which takes place in Cancun, the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mendoza stressed that “everyone, sooner or later, develops cataracts because we are all exposed to the sun.”
Intake of steroid medications orally or intravenously is another factor for the appearance of this ocular disease, which is caused by the opacity in the natural lens called crystalline.
Dr. Eduardo Chávez, president of the Mexican Society of Ophthalmology, added that “ultraviolet light is a big problem and theoretically there are several diseases in the human eye that are due to ultraviolet light after the ozone layer is affected”.
The blows to the head, face and eyes are another factor, as well as age, but one of the risks that has increased the cases of cataracts is diabetes.
“Diabetes has made cataracts appear in younger people, we have patients of 30 or 35 years with this condition due to an important metabolic decontrol, unfortunately diabetes is still not taken as seriously as it should be,” he said.
Dr. Mendoza explained that the symptoms presented by people with cataracts are “blurred vision, night glare and double vision, patients go to the opticians for lenses but realize they do not improve.”
Although the incidence of cataracts is greater in people aged 60 years or older and for this reason it is difficult to prevent them, Mendoza pointed out that some measures can be taken to delay them.
Among them is sun protection with sunglasses and in case of diabetes, maintain adequate control of the disease.
Cataracts are the number one cause of reversible acquired blindness around the world; 350,000 new cases are diagnosed annually and it is estimated that 250,000 surgeries are performed each year.
