The lens of the eye is located immediately behind the iris and is responsible for 33% of the eyes focusing power. At birth it is like jelly, but unfortunately with age it gradually hardens and loses its ability to change shape. Evidence of this hardening normally starts to affect us in our mid-forties when many require reading glasses for close work. This is called Presbyopia. The lens is made mostly of water and protein. Specific proteins within the lens are responsible for maintaining its clarity. Over many years, the structures of these lens proteins are altered, ultimately leading to a gradual clouding of the lens. Rarely, cataract can present at birth or in early childhood as a result of hereditary enzyme defects, and severe trauma to the eye, eye surgery, or intraocular inflammation can also cause cataract to occur earlier in life. With further increase in age, the lens continues to harden and starts to become more compact and cloudy, reducing initially quality of vision and later obstructing vision and interfering with day to day activities. A cloudy of opaque lens is called a cataract and unfortunately is inevitable.

Hypermetropia is a defect of vision that causes the impossibility for rays of light to be focused on the retina, but behind it. The main cause for this defect is the insufficiente eye lenght. A lot of people suffer from hypermetropia without even knowing it, because the eye automatically compensate this defect. The continuous effort to try to see clean images, can cause migraines that are rarely linked to eye’s problems. Hypermetropia gets noticed only when the eye cannot compensate any longer: vision becomes definitely blurred and people finally book an appointment to be checked out.