VISION
📅 AUDIOPTICA LUXSO BLOG · ⏱ 8 min read
Book your free eye test in Dénia
It feels like looking through a misted-up window. Oncoming headlights dazzle you more than they used to. Colours look faded, and you've changed your glasses twice in a short time without any real improvement. If you're over 60 and any of this sounds familiar, the most likely cause is cataracts – the most common vision problem at that age and, according to the World Health Organization, the leading cause of reversible blindness worldwide.
The good news: cataracts have a permanent fix. This guide explains what they are, how to recognise them, when surgery makes sense and what your optician does before and after the operation. At our opticians in Dénia we pick up cataracts almost every week during the free eye test – and we speak English.
What is a cataract?
Just behind the pupil sits a natural lens called the crystalline lens. It's clear and flexible, and its job is to focus light onto the retina, like the lens of a camera. Over the years the proteins inside it clump together and the lens loses its transparency – first yellowish, then cloudy. That cloudiness is the cataract.
It isn't a film growing over the eye, it isn't a tumour and it isn't contagious. It's simply the lens ageing – as natural as grey hair, although some people develop it much earlier than others.
Types of cataract
- Nuclear – in the centre of the lens. The most common age-related type. It progresses slowly and, oddly, can briefly improve near vision ("second sight") because the eye becomes more short-sighted.
- Cortical – starts at the edges as spoke-like opacities. Causes glare and poor contrast.
- Posterior subcapsular – at the back of the lens. Progresses quickly, is very bothersome in bright light and when reading, and is more common in people with diabetes or on long-term steroids.
Symptoms of cataracts
Cataracts don't hurt and don't appear overnight, so many people get used to seeing worse without realising how much vision they've lost. The usual signs:
- Blurred or cloudy vision that doesn't improve by cleaning your glasses.
- Glare and halos around lights, especially when driving at night. Many people stop night driving before they know they have cataracts.
- Faded or yellowish colours. White looks cream; blues and purples blur together. After surgery people are often amazed at how vivid colours are.
- Needing more light to read, and struggling in dim rooms.
- Frequent prescription changes – two or three new pairs of glasses in a year, none of them as sharp as before.
- Double or "ghost" images in one eye.
- Sudden improvement in near vision after years of needing reading glasses – a misleading sign that the lens is changing.
Who is at higher risk?
Age is the main factor: by 65 most people have some degree of lens opacity, even if it doesn't bother them yet. Other factors bring cataracts forward or speed them up:
- Sun exposure without UV protection. UV light damages the lens proteins – and on the Costa Blanca, with so many hours of sunshine, this matters more than elsewhere.
- Diabetes, which causes earlier and faster-progressing cataracts.
- Smoking and alcohol.
- Long-term steroids (tablets, inhalers or eye drops).
- High myopia, eye injuries, previous eye surgery or inflammation such as uveitis.
- Family history – if your parents had surgery early, get checked earlier.
How cataracts are detected at the optician's
A cataract is visible. During the free eye test at our Dénia practice, the optometrist examines the lens with a slit lamp – a microscope that shows each layer of the eye under magnification. We can see whether there is an opacity, what type it is and how much it affects you.
We also measure your visual acuity with and without correction, check contrast and glare sensitivity, and work out whether a change in prescription explains the loss of vision or not. If the cataract is the cause and it's already affecting your life, we refer you to an ophthalmologist with a report. If it's early, we update your prescription and review you every 6 to 12 months.
It's also important to rule out other causes of blurred vision at this age – glaucoma, macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy – which sometimes coexist with cataracts.
When should you have cataract surgery?
This is the question we hear most, and the answer has changed. Years ago you were told to wait for the cataract to "ripen". Not any more: with modern techniques, a very advanced cataract is harder to operate on than a moderate one, and waiting only prolongs the years of poor vision.
The current rule is simple: you have surgery when the cataract affects your daily life and glasses can no longer compensate. Signs that the time has come:
- You no longer meet the vision standard for your driving licence, or you've stopped driving at night because of glare.
- Reading, watching TV, recognising faces or enjoying your hobbies is difficult even with up-to-date glasses.
- You've tripped or fallen because you couldn't see a step or a kerb.
- Your ophthalmologist needs a clear view of the back of your eye (for example, to monitor diabetic retinopathy) and the cataract is in the way.
There's no magic number. Two people with the same cataract may need surgery at different times depending on whether they drive, read a lot or work. The decision is made between you, the ophthalmologist and – in practice – the optician who sees how your prescription is changing.
What the operation involves
Cataract surgery is one of the most frequently performed and most successful procedures in medicine. The standard technique is phacoemulsification: through a 2 mm incision the surgeon breaks up the cloudy lens with ultrasound, removes it and implants a clear intraocular lens that stays for life. It takes about 15–20 minutes under anaesthetic drops, with no overnight stay, and one eye is done at a time (the second usually a few weeks later).
If you're registered with the Spanish public health system (SIP card), surgery is covered, with a waiting list; private clinics in Dénia, Gandía and Alicante also perform it, and many British and other international residents choose that route for shorter waits and a wider choice of lenses.
Which intraocular lens?
- Monofocal – corrects one distance, usually far. This is the standard lens in the public system. You'll need reading glasses afterwards.
- Multifocal or trifocal – corrects far, intermediate and near, so many people manage without glasses for most things. Slightly more night halos; not suitable for every eye.
- Toric – also corrects astigmatism; available in monofocal and multifocal versions.
Choosing the lens is an important decision. It depends on your astigmatism, whether you have dry eye or macular problems, whether you drive at night or spend hours on a computer. If you'd like to understand your prescription before deciding, we're happy to go through it with you in English.
After surgery: what to expect and which glasses you'll need
Recovery is quick. Most people see noticeably better within 24–48 hours and return to normal life within days, using drops for a few weeks and avoiding rubbing the eye or heavy lifting at first.
What many people don't realise is that your prescription changes completely after surgery. Your old glasses won't work. The usual plan is to wait 3–6 weeks after the second eye, once things have settled, and then have a full eye test to:
- Prescribe new reading glasses (monofocal lens) or task glasses (multifocal).
- Choose good-quality UV sunglasses: after surgery the eye is more sensitive to glare, and the implant doesn't filter all the light.
- Check eye pressure and the back of the eye, and set up your routine reviews.
If vision becomes cloudy again months or years later, the cataract hasn't "come back" – it can't. It's usually posterior capsule opacification, a thin membrane that is cleared with a five-minute laser treatment at the clinic. We spot it at your check-up and refer you.
Can cataracts be prevented?
Not entirely, because the lens ages in everyone. But you can delay them and slow them down: wear 100 % UV sunglasses outdoors all year round, don't smoke, keep diabetes and blood pressure under control, eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, avoid unnecessary steroid use and have your eyes tested every year from 60, even if you think you see fine.
Myths about cataracts
- "You have to wait for it to ripen." Out of date for decades. Surgery is done when it affects your life, and the earlier, the simpler.
- "Cataracts can be removed with laser or drops." No drops remove a cataract. Treatment is surgical; laser is only used for some steps or for the capsule afterwards.
- "There's no point changing my glasses if I have cataracts." In the early stages an accurate prescription can give you a year or two of good vision before surgery – and new glasses are essential afterwards.
- "Only old people get cataracts." Age is the main cause, but diabetes, steroids, injuries and sun can cause them in your 40s or 50s.
What we offer at Audioptica Luxso
- Free, full eye test including slit-lamp examination of the lens.
- Clear explanation of what stage your cataract is at – in English.
- Updated prescription while surgery isn't yet needed, and a written report for your ophthalmologist when it is.
- New glasses and UV sunglasses after surgery, and ongoing follow-up.
- Free hearing test in the same visit if you've noticed your hearing changing too.
Blurred vision isn't "just your age"
A cataract is detected in minutes and fixed with a 15-minute operation. The only thing that makes no sense is carrying on seeing badly. Book a free eye test and we'll tell you whether cataracts are the cause and what to do next.
Visit us in Dénia
📍 Audioptica Luxso Dénia — Calle Diana, 35 · English spoken
📞 Opticians: +34 692 609 299 · Hearing care: +34 685 082 459
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