Cataracts explained: the signs, the timing, and what an eye test can see

Nearly everyone who lives long enough develops cataracts. That is not a scare line — it is the reason cataracts are worth understanding calmly and early, rather than reading about them in a panic at 70.

What a cataract actually is

Inside your eye, behind the pupil, sits a clear natural lens that focuses light onto the retina. Over the decades, the proteins in that lens gradually change and the lens loses its clarity. That clouding is a cataract.

It is not a growth. It is not a film over the surface of your eye that can be wiped or dissolved. It is the lens itself becoming less transparent, which is why no drop, vitamin or diet reverses one once it has formed.

The signs, in the order people usually notice them

Cataracts develop slowly, often over years, and your brain adapts as they do. That is exactly why people miss them. Watch for:

• Glare and halos at night. Oncoming headlights scatter and streak. Night driving becomes the first thing people quietly give up.
• Vision that feels dim rather than blurry. Like a smudge on a camera lens, or needing more light to read than you used to.
• Colours looking faded or yellowed. Whites stop looking white. This one is almost always noticed only in hindsight.
• A prescription that keeps changing. New glasses every year that never quite fix it.
• Reading suddenly getting easier without glasses. Sometimes called second sight. It feels like good news and is usually the opposite — a sign the lens is changing.
• Double vision in one eye, which stays when the other eye is closed.

What raises your risk

Age is the main driver, but several things bring cataracts on earlier or make them progress faster:

• UV exposure over a lifetime. This matters in a country with year-round strong sun, and it is the one risk factor you can act on today.
• Smoking.
• Diabetes, particularly when blood sugar runs high over long periods.
• Long-term steroid use.
• Previous eye injury or eye surgery.

To clear up two common beliefs: cataracts are not caused by using your eyes too much or reading in dim light, and they do not spread from one eye to the other. Both eyes often develop them because both eyes are the same age.

What happens when they need treating

Cataract surgery replaces the clouded natural lens with a clear artificial one. It is among the most commonly performed operations in the world, usually done under local anaesthesia as a day procedure, one eye at a time.

The decision on timing belongs to you and an ophthalmologist together, and it is based on how much the cataract affects your daily life rather than on how it looks in a photograph. Someone who drives at night reaches that point sooner than someone who does not. There is no requirement to wait until a cataract is fully developed.

Vision Express does not perform cataract surgery. What we do is find it, explain it clearly, and refer you to an ophthalmologist when that is what you need.

What helps before surgery

In the earlier stages, ordinary things make a real difference. An updated prescription often restores useful clarity for a while. More light on your reading, less glare on your screen, and anti-glare lenses for night driving all help you keep doing what you want to do.

Protecting your eyes from UV also matters at every age, including for anyone hoping to delay this conversation. Sunglasses are not a cosmetic decision in the Philippines.

Get it looked at properly

If night glare has crept up on you, if your prescription keeps shifting, or if you are simply over 60 and it has been a while, have your eyes examined.

Book a Vision7 eye test at your nearest Vision Express store. Our seven-step comprehensive eye exam includes a visual health examination, so the lens inside your eye is assessed rather than assumed — and if a referral is the right answer, you will get one.

For the glare that comes with early cataract, ask for the Nikon Seemax Infinite Z at the counter — a Japanese single-vision lens with a coating built to cut the halos and scatter from headlights and screens, so night driving and evening reading stay comfortable for longer. If you also want automatic sun protection outdoors, ask about Essilor Photochromic Elements White 1.56. Free lifetime ultrasonic cleaning and fitting adjustments come with both.