New World After Cataract Surgery
One of the most startling adjustments folks make after successful cataract surgery is the color of their new eyesight. Yes, the world looks very different once that cloudy lens is removed - and not just because things are clearer.
Lifelong sun exposure is a major contributor to cataract formation. Besides helping the eye with near focusing (accommodation) the crystalline lens is also an essential toxic light filter for the delicate retina. The lens blocks dangerous UVA and Infrared wavelengths from damaging the irreplaceable retinal cells. (In case you were wondering, most UVB is blocked by the clear cornea.)
50, 60, even 70 years of nonstop service comes with a price. Chemicals in the lens that participate in blocking dangerous light rays eventually metabolize. One waste product is urochrome pigment. Urochrome slowly turns the lens yellow, not unlike wearing a pair of yellow-tinted sunglasses. You know, those 'Blue Blockers' that appear in the TV informercials.
Wearing a yellow lens filters out the blue-green portion of the visible spectrum. Yellows, reds and oranges stand out but many other hues are muted. This lens discoloration is very gradual so the individual is unaware that their perception of the world has changed. Once that yellow, cloudy lens is replaced with a permanent transparent intraocular lens implant (IOL) the complete visible spectrum returns. WOW!
Reintroduction of blues and greens into the visible palette can be very jarring at first. The famous artist Claude Monet was so upset that he had his eye doctor prescribe him yellow spectacles to chromatically put things as they were before surgery.
'Bouquet of Sunflowers' (C. Monet, 1840-1926)
The 'color shock' passes a few days after cataract surgery. Patients candidly explain they didn't know what they were missing. Besides restoring crisp visual acuity, cataract removal and IOL implantation gives people a brand new appreciation of their colorful world.
Related Topics:
Technorati Tags: eye surgery, cataracts
Lifelong sun exposure is a major contributor to cataract formation. Besides helping the eye with near focusing (accommodation) the crystalline lens is also an essential toxic light filter for the delicate retina. The lens blocks dangerous UVA and Infrared wavelengths from damaging the irreplaceable retinal cells. (In case you were wondering, most UVB is blocked by the clear cornea.)
50, 60, even 70 years of nonstop service comes with a price. Chemicals in the lens that participate in blocking dangerous light rays eventually metabolize. One waste product is urochrome pigment. Urochrome slowly turns the lens yellow, not unlike wearing a pair of yellow-tinted sunglasses. You know, those 'Blue Blockers' that appear in the TV informercials.
Wearing a yellow lens filters out the blue-green portion of the visible spectrum. Yellows, reds and oranges stand out but many other hues are muted. This lens discoloration is very gradual so the individual is unaware that their perception of the world has changed. Once that yellow, cloudy lens is replaced with a permanent transparent intraocular lens implant (IOL) the complete visible spectrum returns. WOW!

'Bouquet of Sunflowers' (C. Monet, 1840-1926)
The 'color shock' passes a few days after cataract surgery. Patients candidly explain they didn't know what they were missing. Besides restoring crisp visual acuity, cataract removal and IOL implantation gives people a brand new appreciation of their colorful world.
Related Topics:
Technorati Tags: eye surgery, cataracts