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AGING | CATARACTS | SURGERY | VISION
I Can See Clearly Now
The potential inevitability of cataract surgery for many of us
Wow — colors look different now — especially blues! That’s been the experience that both my husband and I have had this past month after both having had cataract surgery in both eyes. Apparently, about half of older people will develop cataracts and need this surgery to correct them. While it may seem daunting to consider (it certainly did for me), it didn’t turn out to be a big deal, and we found a number of benefits:
- The basic surgery and lens replacement are covered by Medicare
- The surgery itself only takes about 15 minutes and is relatively painless
- Most people end up with 20/20 vision, and no longer need glasses for distance vision
What we didn’t realize is that having cataracts that were most likely developing over the last several years, your brain gets used to seeing everything through a ‘yellowish’ film. After the surgery, colors and sharper, clearer, and actually look different — especially blues. I’ve found it interesting that the color of our bedspread is different than I thought it was, as well as the color of my blue jeans. In addition, everything has a sharper edge to it, which I wasn’t used to.
