How to treat cataracts: evidence-based medicine vs traditional methods
The content of the article:
- Some statistics
- Is the operation really necessary?
- Myth # 1. Cataracts can be cured with honey.
- Myth number 2. Aloe will relieve cataracts
- Myth number 3. Blueberries will cure cataracts
- Myth # 4. Exercise is good for cataracts.
- Cataract drops: effective or not?
- Operation: the sooner the better!
The ophthalmologist examined her, diagnosed cataract and recommended surgery. Are there other treatments? Do you really need an operation or try alternative cataract treatment first? You look, it will resolve itself. In this article, the ophthalmologists of the Omicron Center will give answers to these questions and debunk popular myths about the treatment of cataracts with folk remedies.
Some statistics
According to the World Health Organization, cataracts are the second leading cause of visual impairment. In 51% of cases, people go blind due to cataracts. It is predicted that in 5 years, 50 million people in their 60s will have lens opacity to one degree or another.
Is the operation really necessary?
With cataracts, the lens becomes cloudy. This is an irreversible process. It is based on the biochemical process of protein denaturation. Imagine egg white. Raw - transparent. If boiled, it becomes dense, white. Whatever you do, his former state cannot be returned to him. So it is with the lens of the eye - a natural biological lens. While transparent, the person does not complain about vision. Under the influence of various factors, most often with age, the lens becomes cloudy. At a later stage of cataract, the lens becomes milky white, ceases to transmit light rays, and the person completely loses the ability to see. At the same time, there is a high risk of developing severe complications with the threat of complete loss of vision. Is it necessary to wait for this? A weighty argument to decide on an operation, isn't it?
Folk remedies for eye cataracts are myths that have nothing to do with evidence-based medicine.
Myth # 1. Cataracts can be cured with honey
The Internet is replete with recipes for how to make drops with honey for cataracts. Sofa healers advise putting white acacia honey under the lower eyelid, making lotions from a honey solution.
Reality: Honey is an excellent medium for microbial growth. Other eye diseases, such as conjunctivitis, can also be added to cataracts. Self-medication with a sweet product can cause allergies. Honey can cause irritation of the mucous membranes of the eyes, burning, watery eyes. It is naive to believe that treating cataracts with honey will bring the desired result. There is not a single scientific study on this topic, only recommendations from the category "one grandma said."
Myth number 2. Aloe will relieve cataracts
Another popular misconception: a must have in a folk medicine cabinet is aloe for cataract eyes. There are fairy tales circulating on the network, allegedly treating cataracts with aloe juice works wonders. A solution from an agave will relieve eye problems for a hundred years. To heighten the therapeutic effect of cataracts, honey must be added to the aloe.
Reality: Aloe cataract drops with honey or other additives have no healing effect. The eyes are a very delicate organ. Only sterile solutions should be instilled. You can buy aloe extract at the pharmacy according to Fedorov. It is unlikely to relieve cataracts, it is a herbal preparation for preventing eye diseases.
Myth number 3. Blueberries will cure cataracts
In people diagnosed with cataracts, blueberries are the number one berry on the table. Fresh, frozen, dried. Drops, tinctures, compresses are made from it. Dozens of recipes, but none of them is able to defeat the disease.
Reality: Only if it prevents. But for this you will have to eat it in kilograms. It is believed that the berry strengthens and nourishes the retina, improves blood flow in it. There are many ingredients in blueberries that are good for the eyes, but cataracts cannot be cured with it.
Myth # 4. Exercise is good for cataracts
Exercising for the eyes with cataracts, as well as exercising in the morning for the whole body, has a general strengthening effect, relieves eye fatigue, and helps to cope with high visual stress. But there is no way to cure cataracts. The popular method of preventing visual disturbances - gymnastics for the eyes according to Norbekov - is powerless with cataracts. It improves the metabolism in the tissues, but the transparency of the lens will not return.
Reality: Exercise can only help with so-called "false myopia", when the cause of visual impairment is not in the lens of the eye, but in the spasm of the eye muscles. For example, when reading, working at a computer, when the eyes are tense for a long time. But not with cataracts. Sometimes eye gymnastics is even contraindicated. For example, with ocular pressure, inflammation or retinal detachment.
Cataract drops: effective or not?
The only proven effective cataract treatment is to replace the lens with an artificial lens. In the initial stages of the disease, using drops, you can slow down the process of lens opacity, reduce symptoms and postpone the operation. But it is inevitable.
Drops for eyes from cataracts are used:
- For the prevention of disease - when there is a suspicion or prerequisites for the onset of pathology. The drugs normalize metabolic processes in the eyes, relieve discomfort and increased fatigue.
- With age-related cataract - when the disease has already been diagnosed, and it is necessary to suspend the process of its development. In this case, the drops help the resorption of opaque protein accumulations. Improves the optical performance of the lens.
- After the operation, when the lens has already been replaced with an artificial one, and the task is to prevent complications. The most effective cataract eye drops in this case are those that have an anti-inflammatory, analgesic effect.
Operation: the sooner the better
Neither great minds nor self-taught healers have yet invented a drug to get rid of cataracts. We often want to believe in magic, and we are glad to be deceived. Especially when on the Internet, wherever you stick, there are positive reviews about the treatment of cataracts with folk remedies without surgery. The fear of surgery is natural. If you understand how the procedure goes, it will become calmer.
The operation takes about 15 minutes. Vision returns already in the operating room, on the same day the patient is allowed to go home. At the same time, the present stage of development of surgical technologies substantiates the expediency of the operation even with the loss of central vision up to the level of 0.5 with correction.
With a mature cataract, the risk of complications during surgery or after it increases. This is another compelling argument to trust ophthalmologists and get treatment as soon as possible.
Shamanic dances with a tambourine, conspiracies on the growing moon and any other folk treatment for cataracts, let them remain on the conscience of science fiction writers. Specialists of the Omicron ophthalmological centers are sure that it is not worth experimenting with health.
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