Reviewed by medical experts • For informational purposes only
Aging lens proteins, diabetes, steroids, UV, smoking and injury cloud the lens - know cataract's causes and the ones you control.
Most cataract is aging - but age is not the whole story. Several accelerators matter, especially in India, and some are preventable.
Protein changes in the lens are cumulative. Most people develop some lens clouding after 60; by 75, most have a clinically meaningful cataract. Aging is the tide everything else rides on.
Reading in dim light, watching screens, and "eye strain" do not cause cataract - they tire eyes but do not cloud lenses. Cataract is not contagious and not caused by cataract in the family environment.
Classical eye texts attribute timira (early clouding) to vata-pitta aggravation, aging, and misuse of the eyes - and they were careful to separate what strains the eye from what clouds the lens, listing dooshana (harm) from heat, smoke, and suppression of urges alongside age. The modern list adds the measurable accelerators: UV, steroids, diabetes, smoking.
Sushruta's Uttara Tantra (ch. 1) and Madhava Nidana (ch. 59) list the eye-straining life: staring at minute objects, reading in poor or flickering light, facing intense glare (ati-atapa), sudden cold water after heat; suppressing natural urges - tears, sneezing, vomiting; chronic grief and anger; day sleeping and night waking; and a diet heavy in the sour, pungent, salty and dry, with black gram and alcohol. Strip the language and the list is recognizable: glare, strain, metabolic excess and an inflamed internal environment.
Age clouds every lens eventually; diabetes, sunlight, steroids, smoking and injury cloud it sooner - and babies can be born with it, which is why newborn eye checks matter.
Written By
Dr. Daksh
BDS
Reviewed By
Dr. Varun Gupta
MD Pharmacology, MBBS
Last updated on
27 Sep 2022 • 06:23 PM (IST)
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