What a difference a cataract surgery can make!
Blog vol 6.43. What a difference a cataract surgery can make!
I love to hear the accounts of my patients when they return after cataract surgery. “They took the patch off and boy, was it clear, so bright, colours were vivid”, especially when compared to the vision in the unoperated eye.
When cataracts are developing, what vision changes can you expect as the cataracts get worse? You will definitely have trouble with night driving and headlights, but for everyday you will have a hard time noticing any difference, the changes are so gradual. It becomes normal and you adapt.
This past week, I was talking to a local artist who was putting the finishing touches on a painting we commissioned as a wedding present for one of our children. He mentioned that he had cataract surgery while in the middle of painting the picture. I jokingly mentioned that we will be checking to see what part of the painting he did with his cataract eyes and what part he did with his clear eyes. We had a good chuckle about that. We saw the painting on Tuesday and really had a hard time telling, so there.
Through art history there have been notable artists that were dealing with the “dimming” vision that cataracts bring on. Claude Monet, a well-known French impressionist, was diagnosed with cataracts at 72 years old and for the next 10 years his vision changed and it did affect his painting. The progression of Monet’s cataracts is essentially documented in paint. His earlier Water Lilies and garden scenes from before 1914 are defined by delicate blues, greens, and soft atmospheric light. As his cataracts advanced, the palette shifted. Paintings from 1914 to 1917 show dulled, muted colors. Works from the early 1920s are dominated by heavy reds, oranges, and yellows applied in increasingly broad, coarse strokes.
Monet waited so long for surgery because he did not want to affect his colour perception and probably did not want to risk surgery (this was early 20th century). Cataracts will affect your colour palette and the fineness of the detail you can see as the lens clouds and becomes more brunescent (brown). When you are in the ”cataract” years, be careful when working with colours, for interior decorating and picking clothes. Remember you are wearing a filter in your eyes. Also, please get your eyes checked, and ask your optometrist to check your contrast sensitivity — your ability to distinguish an object from its background especially when the difference between them is subtle. Reduced contrast sensitivity affects mobility, your ability to get around.
At Burlington Eyecare, we check for cataracts, monitor them, and tell you when they are ready for surgical removal. No need to let cataracts get so developed that they affect your ability to do things. Cataract surgery in 2026 has excellent results and is readily available. Do get your eyes checked regularly because the visual changes caused by a cataract can be hard to detect yourself in the early stages and there are wait times for surgery. How developed the cataract should have little affect on your post-surgery vision and remember that as the cataract develops it can start to affect your life. This is not necessary.
Til next week,
The good doctor
