A cataract is a clouding of the normally clear lens of your eye. For people who have cataracts, seeing through cloudy lenses is a bit like looking through a frosty or fogged-up window. Clouded vision caused by cataracts can make it more difficult to read, drive a car (especially at night) or see the expression on a friend's face.

Symptoms:

• Clouded, blurred or dim vision
• Increasing difficulty with vision at night
• Sensitivity to light and glare
• Need for brighter light for reading and other activities
• Fading or yellowing of colors
• Double vision in a single eye

Glaucoma is a condition that causes damage to your eye's optic nerve and gets worse over time. It's often linked to a buildup of pressure inside your eye. The increased pressure, called intraocular pressure, can damage the optic nerve, which transmits images to your brain. If the damage continues, glaucoma can lead to permanent vision loss. Without treatment, glaucoma can cause total permanent blindness within a few years.

Symptoms:

• Severe throbbing eye pain
• Eye redness
• Headaches (on the same side as the affected eye)
• Blurry or foggy vision
• Halos around lights
• Dilated pupil

Diabetic retinopathy is a diabetes complication that affects eyes. It's caused by damage to the blood vessels of the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye (retina). At first, diabetic retinopathy may cause no symptoms or only mild vision problems. Eventually, it can cause blindness. The condition can develop in anyone who has type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The longer you have diabetes and the less controlled your blood sugar is, the more likely you are to develop this eye complication.

Symptoms:

• Spots or dark strings floating in your vision (floaters)
• Blurred vision
• Fluctuating vision
• Impaired color vision
• Dark or empty areas in your vision
• Vision loss

Eye problems caused by computer use fall under the heading computer vision syndrome (CVS). It isn’t one specific problem. Instead, it includes a whole range of eye strain and pain. When you work at a computer, your eyes have to focus and refocus all the time. They move back and forth as you read. Your eyes react to changing images on the screen to create so your brain can process what you’re seeing. All these jobs require a lot of effort from your eye muscles. And to make things worse, unlike a book or piece of paper, the screen adds contrast, flicker, and glare.

Symptoms:

• Blurred vision
• Double vision
• Dry, red eyes
• Eye irritation
• Headaches
• Neck or back pain

Ocular allergy is an inflammatory reaction of the surface of the eye to particles (allergens) in the environment. It is quite common and affects people of all ages. Inflammation can be asymptomatic, or cause dramatic symptoms, and in severe cases, severe loss of vision.

Symptoms:

• Redness
• Itching or Burning
• Light Sensitivity
• Swelling or the conjunctiva
• Decrease in vision
• Runny nose or sneezing

Phacoemulsification cataract surgery is a procedure in which an ultrasonic device is used to break up and then remove a cloudy lens, or cataract, from the eye to improve vision. The insertion of an intraocular lens (IOL) usually immediately follows phacoemulsification.