A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye. A normal lens is clear and focuses light into the back of the eye. When a cataract develops some of this light is blocked out and or scattered. As this cataract develops, it becomes harder for a person to see.

The American Optometric Association represents approximately 36,000 doctors of optometry, optometry students and paraoptometric assistants and technicians. Optometrists serve patients in nearly 6,500 communities across the country, and in 3,500 of those communities are the only eye doctors. Doctors of optometry provide two-thirds of all primary eye care in the United States.

Founded in 1985, EyeCare America is a public service foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Our mission is to reduce avoidable blindness and severe visual impairment by raising awareness about eye disease and care, providing free eye health educational materials and facilitating access to medical eye care.

If you or someone you love has just been diagnosed with a cataract, or if you would simply like to learn more about cataracts and cataract surgery, CataractSurgery.com can help.

Cataract surgery is the removal of the natural lens of the eye (also called "crystalline lens") that has developed an opacification, which is referred to as a cataract. Metabolic changes of the crystalline lens fibers over the time lead to the development of the cataract and loss of transparency, causing impairment or loss of vision. During cataract surgery, a patient's cloudy natural lens is removed and replaced with a synthetic lens to restore the lens's transparency.

The National Eye Institute (NEI) is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is the Federal government's lead agency for vision research that leads to sight-saving treatments and plays a key role in reducing visual impairment and blindness.