Cataracts or macular degeneration?

How often does it occur?

316,000 Dutch people are blind or visually impaired. The latter is, incidentally, slightly different from ‘normal’ farsightedness or nearsightedness, which can be remedied with glasses.

What are the symptoms of visual impairment?

It could be anything. The two most common eye diseases are gray or grey stare (clouding of the lens of the eye) and macular degeneration (where a blurry or dark spot appears in the field of vision, or straight lines are distorted).

Other common complaints are that you can no longer see clearly in the dark or see things twice. Many people are hardly aware that they see less, because vision gradually deteriorates.

Does it come with getting older?

Yes. Whether it’s blurry vision in the dark, stare or macular degeneration: it mainly occurs in old age. Of people with these serious vision problems, 80 percent are 65 years of age or older.

What if you don’t do anything about it?

In general, untreated eye problems can have far-reaching consequences. Not only in the medical field (think of severe visual impairment, falls and a greater chance of traffic accidents), but also socially. It can lead to loneliness and depressive symptoms.

Cataract is very slowly receding. An operation is only necessary if you see less well, and is therefore possible. In case of macular degeneration, it is important to see a doctor as soon as possible. The chance of a good treatment is greatest at an early stage.

What can the doctor do?

That depends on the problem. In more than half of the patients, the visual impairment can be treated or the condition could have been prevented. Sometimes better glasses are enough. Sometimes, as with cataracts, surgery will be needed. cataract surgery are successful in 95 percent of the cases. Macular degeneration cannot always be stopped. It is sometimes possible to brake the decline, but then it is important to act quickly.