Imagine waking up one morning with a tiny smudge in your vision, annoying, but harmless – until, day by day, it expands like a spreading shadow, slowly stealing the world from your eyes. Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide. Here's what you need to know to protect yourself and others.
Cataracts start when proteins in your eye’s lens break down and clump together. These clumps cloud your vision, like fog creeping over a window.
Over time, the clear lens turns yellow, brown, or milky white, blocking light and stealing your sight. Left untreated, cataracts can lead to permanent blindness.
There’s no medicine that can fix cataracts. They will not disappear with time. In fact, they only get worse.
In early stages, glasses or contact lenses might help – but only for a while.
The only effective solution is surgery: removing the cloudy lens and replacing it with a clear, artificial one.
Important: The eye is never removed during this process.
Most people think cataracts only affect older adults – but they can affect children from birth.
This is called congenital cataracts, often caused by genetic or environmental conditions during pregnancy.
If not treated early – often within the first few months of life – a child’s vision may never develop. The result is permanent blindness.
You can also get cataracts from an injury to the eye, these are called traumatic cataracts. Damage from the impact causes the lens to cloud, blurring vision either right away or slowly over time.
According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, Cataracts cause 40% of all blindness worldwide.
That’s millions of people losing their sight, when a simple, low-cost operation could save it.
Cataract surgery is a simple, life-changing procedure that can take as little as 20 minutes and cost as little as £24, giving people the chance to see clearly again and reclaim their independence.
At Orbis, we’re taking action every day to stop blindness caused by cataracts:
Cataracts are treatable and vision loss can be reversed.
But only if people get the help they need in time.
