@NYTimes Article: #Cataract Surgery May Prolong Your #Life After 72 very nearsighted years, 55 of them spent wearing Coke-bottle glasses, Jane Quinn of Brooklyn, N.Y., is thrilled with how well she can see since having her #cataracts removed last year. “It’s very liberating to be able to see without glasses,” Ms. Quinn told me. “My vision is terrific. I can even drive at night. I can’t wait to go snorkeling.” And I was thrilled to be able to tell her that the surgery very likely did more than improve her poor #vision. According to the results of a huge new study, it may also prolong her life. The 20-year study, conducted among 74,044 women aged 65 and older, all of whom had cataracts, found a 60 percent lower risk of #death among the 41,735 women who had their cataracts removed. The findings were published online in JAMA #Ophthalmology in October by Dr. Anne L. Coleman and colleagues at the Stein #Eye Institute of the David Geffen School of #Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, with Dr. Victoria L. Tseng as lead author. A cataract is a clouding and discoloration of the #lens of the #eye. This normally clear structure behind the #iris and #pupil changes shape, enabling incoming visual images to focus clearly on the #retina at the back of the eye. When cataracts form, images get increasingly fuzzy, the eyes become more sensitive to glare, #nightvision is impaired, and #colorcontrasts are often lost. One friend at 74 realized she needed #cataractsurgery when she failed to see the yellow highlighted lines in a manuscript she was reading; for her husband, then 75, it was his #ophthalmologist who said “it’s time.” Cataracts typically form gradually with #age, and anyone who lives long enough is likely to develop them. They are the most frequent cause of #visionloss in people over 40. Common risk factors include exposure to ultraviolet #radiation (i.e., sunlight), #smoking, #obesity, #highbloodpressure, #diabetes, prolonged use of #corticosteroids, extreme #nearsightedness and #familyhistory. Read further https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/well/live/cataract-surgery-may-prolong-your-life.html (at New York, New York)
