Because of faulty dietary and living habits, many people develop cataracts in their later years, as they develop other degenerative diseases for the same reasons. A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye that can progress to the point where light can no longer pass through the lens and the eye is totally blind.
When the metabolism of the lens becomes faulty, the lens fibers can become swollen or distorted, and gaps filed with fluid and debris form among them. When these degenerative changes begin to cause the incoming light to scatter rather than be transmitted, the person is said to have a cataract. The only solution at present is the surgical removal of the lens and the use of strong glasses, contact lenses or lens implants to compensate for the loss of the lens. Replacing the lens of the eye with an artificial lens risks infection or other complications, resulting in blindness. Throughout the world, the total number of people each year who find their vision impaired by cataracts probably runs into the millions. Both time and patience are required after surgery in order to adapt to the restored vision. If an artificial lens is not implanted, thick, heavy glasses must be worn to compensate for the lens that has been removed. Such glasses cause considerable distortion of the surrounding world, increased magnification of the image on the retina, decreased depth perception, and disturbances of the field of vision. Some people require many months to adapt to these effects and a few people never learn to tolerate them.
