Cataracts symptoms appearing earlier, finds research

Patients are developing cataracts at an earlier age, according to eye hospital group Optegra Eye Health Care.

Consumer research carried out for Optegra by Censuswide in April, among 2,231 British adults aged 16 years and above, found a third of British adults knew someone who had been diagnosed and treated for cataracts in their 50s or 60s.

Optegra leading ophthalmic surgeon Anne Gilvarry said: ‘Ten years ago, if I had seen someone in their 50s who had cataracts, I would have been really concerned, ordering extra scans and blood tests. But now, I regularly see such patients.’

Almost a fifth of enquiries Optegra had received regarding cataract treatment were now from people in their 40s and 50s. It said further research was needed but believed causes could be the impact of UV, trauma, diabetes, other eye problems such as myopia and vitrectomy surgery.