Health Insights · Eyes
Cataracts: cloudy vision that can be corrected
A cataract is clouding of the eye's natural lens, causing gradual blurring, glare and faded colours. It is part of ageing for most people, it is not dangerous, and the decision to have surgery is based on how much it is affecting your life — not on how it looks on examination.
Seek urgent eye assessment if you have
- sudden loss of vision, or a curtain across your sight
- flashes of light or a sudden shower of floaters
- severe eye pain with redness and halos
- rapidly worsening vision over days rather than months
- these symptoms after cataract surgery, particularly pain with reduced vision
Cataracts develop over months to years. Anything sudden is not a cataract and needs same-day eye assessment. Pain with reduced vision in the weeks after surgery may indicate infection inside the eye, which is rare but sight-threatening and requires immediate attention.
Symptoms
- Gradual blurring, or a sense of looking through a dirty window
- Glare and haloes — particularly headlights at night and low winter sun, often the first thing people notice
- Colours looking faded or yellowed, and difficulty distinguishing similar shades
- Needing brighter light to read
- Frequent changes to your glasses prescription
- occasionally double vision in one eye, or a temporary improvement in near vision
When to have surgery
When the cataract is affecting things you want to do. There is no need to wait until it is 'ripe' — that idea belongs to older surgical techniques and is now wrong. Equally there is no obligation to have it done at the first sign. Reasonable triggers include difficulty driving at night, no longer meeting the driving standard, struggling to read or watch television, difficulty recognising faces, or falls related to poor vision.
Driving
The legal standard is being able to read a number plate at 20 metres in good daylight, with glasses or lenses if worn, and meeting a visual acuity and field standard. Glare at night frequently becomes limiting before the daytime standard is failed. If you no longer meet the standard you must stop driving and tell the DVLA. Many people have surgery specifically to keep driving, and that is a perfectly good reason.
The operation
- The clouded lens is broken up with ultrasound and removed through a tiny incision, and an artificial lens is put in its place. No stitches are usually needed.
- You are awake, with numbing drops or a small injection. You see light and movement but not the surgery itself.
- One eye at a time, usually a few weeks apart.
- Vision often improves within a day or two, settling over four to six weeks.
- Complications are uncommon, and infection inside the eye is rare — but it is why any pain with reduced vision afterwards must be reported immediately.
Lens choices
- Monofocal — the standard NHS lens, set for distance. You will usually need reading glasses afterwards, and distance vision is excellent.
- Multifocal or extended depth of focus — reduce dependence on glasses, at the cost of more glare and haloes at night in some people. Privately funded.
- Toric lenses correct astigmatism.
- Monovision — one eye for distance, one for near. Suits some people and not others.
- The right choice depends on your eyes, your work and how much night driving you do — and it is worth discussing properly rather than choosing from a brochure.
Afterwards
- Use the prescribed drops as directed, usually for four weeks.
- Avoid rubbing the eye, swimming, and dusty or dirty environments for a few weeks.
- Gentle activity is fine straight away; avoid heavy lifting and bending for a week or two.
- Wait until your optometrist confirms before updating glasses — usually four to six weeks.
- Posterior capsule opacification — clouding of the membrane behind the lens — occurs in some people months or years later, causing similar symptoms. It is treated in minutes with a painless laser, and is not the cataract returning.
Why come to us. Cataracts are diagnosed by an optometrist, and if your vision has changed, a sight test is the right first step — free for over-60s. We help with what surrounds it: assessing whether the vision change might be something else, checking blood pressure, diabetes and steroid medicines that accelerate cataracts, providing DVLA and fitness-for-work letters, and arranging ophthalmology assessment through our CQC-registered partners without a long wait.
Private GP eye assessment for cataracts in East London
Cataracts cause gradually cloudy, blurred or glare-affected vision and are very treatable with surgery when they affect daily life. Our private GP eye service can assess your symptoms and arrange referral to an eye surgeon, and a private GP in East London can review any related health issues. Sudden loss of vision is different and needs urgent assessment. Tower Bridge Hospital is on Whitechapel Road in East London, a short journey from Canary Wharf and the City, with same-day appointments and no referral required.
Cataracts in London: common questions
What are the symptoms of cataracts?
Gradually cloudy or blurred vision, glare from lights, faded colours, and needing more light to read.
How are cataracts treated?
With a straightforward operation to replace the cloudy lens, offered when vision affects daily life; we can arrange referral.
Is sudden visual loss the same?
No — sudden loss of vision is an emergency and needs urgent assessment, not routine cataract care.
Do I need a referral?
No — you can book a GP eye assessment directly, and we arrange onward surgical referral where needed.
Other causes excluded, referral arranged without the wait
Diabetes and blood pressure checked in-house. 7 days a week.