Today I heard a commercial for some drops (Similacian Cataract, maybe?) supposed to alleviate Cataract symptoms but admits that only surgery can eliminate Cataract. I have never heard of cataract symptoms other than one cannot see and Rx jumping around a bit.
Has anyone ever heard of cataract symptoms? If so what are they or is this just another cure all for a nonexistent condition?
Chip
I saw the same stuff advertised in OptiCourier magazine, but didn't have time to ask the doc before I left. Sounds a bit like snake oil to me.
Saw them for sale at Walmart the other day. Snake oil is right. Cam't reverse what is already there.
I bet this comes from the same company that sells "scratched lens fixers" You know the really oily junk that is all over the lens when a pt brings in the glasses saying the lenses I sold them doesnt work with that stuff. As if its not the stuff thats wrong but the lens....ahhhhhh! Are you kidding me right now, cataract symptom reliever....dang whats next, a salve to cure your myopia?
Originally Posted by chip anderson
Yes.
Sensitivity to bright light (glare), poor vision in un-well-lit environments, halos/streaks from point sources of light, color distortion, sometimes even monocular diplopia.
I would say it's a cure-nothing for an existent condition.
Chip
Actually, the salve is made from garlic, onions, and essence of skunk, and only allows hyperopes to see people more clearly. How does it work? People will stand faaaaar away from the hyperope, allowing them to be seen more clearly.
Since I work in a trithalmic office where the average medical age patient is 70 there is lots of vague visual complaints or symptoms of cataracts. Check out this link page from our practice www.favamariaeyecare.com/g-cataracts.html. The National Institute of Health also has some pretty terrific pages including photos of how a person sees with various aging problems.Today I heard a commercial for some drops (Similacian Cataract, maybe?) supposed to alleviate Cataract symptoms but admits that only surgery can eliminate Cataract. I have never heard of cataract symptoms other than one cannot see and Rx jumping around a bit.
Has anyone ever heard of cataract symptoms? If so what are they or is this just another cure all for a nonexistent condition?
Chip
There are a lot of different types of cataracts and the symptoms vary. For example a posterior subcapsular cataract causes tremendous problems in bright light where as a nuclear sclerotic cataract has problems when reading with usually a myopic shift.
I went to the catatact drops website. The drop is a homeopathic drop that may assist the tear film and rid dryness associated vision symptoms but no way can I see it removing monocular diplopia or reducing glare related symptoms.
Like I said there are no symptoms except you can't see and Rx fluctuations. Nothing a drop can treat and dry eyes are a separate problem not related to cataract.
I read the "symtoms" and they all boil down to the above.
Chip,
If one never had to perform differential diagnosis of all ocular conditions it certainly would be nice to just have to note one or the other of those 2 symptoms in the chart. There are a variety of symptoms for cataracts as has been mentioned, and the symptom often helps identify the density and location of the cataract.
You mentioned that no drop can alleviate the only 2 symptoms that you recognize. That also is not true. Dry eye patients have frequent blurry vision that can be improved immensely with the regular use of artificial tears. Almost all ocular inflammatory disorders from conjunctivitis to cystoid macular edema have blurry vision as a common presenting complaint and many if not most of these are treated with topical medications.
That being said, this drop is a crock of S##$. But patients will gladly send them their money jsut like they still do to this day for Pinhole glasses, and the See Clearly Method(Bates Method). All a bunch of S##$ and I am embarressed that optometrists have even ever been associatted with products like them.
Brent
Bret:
What I said was the drop is not applicable for "cataract symptoms". The problems you describe are not cataract symptoms. True a cataract patient may have dry eyes or any number of other ocular problems, but this is not related to cataract. As I see it, the only symptoms of the cataract itself are poor vision and erratic Rx changes, with possibly a little variation in various lighting conditions.
Do not misunderstand we agree the drop is ----. Our small disagreement is as to what "symtoms" have actually to do with cataract.
I also checked with several ophthalmologists and an opthalmic plastic surgeon and they agree that the drop is ----.
One or two of them did describe some symptoms that a patient with cataract my present. All had do with vision (or lack of) though.
Chip
Last edited by chip anderson; 09-15-2005 at 03:20 PM.
Chi,
I think we agree here, perhaps it is symantics only. I believe that there are many symptoms for cataracts, as do the majority of us who diagnose cataracts and I wouldn't call all of them "blurry vision". The examples of conditions was to illustrate that topical drops can be used to alleviate "Blurry vision" in many circumstances, just not for cataracts.
Re-reading the post that I responded to I think I can see now what you were trying to convey: That the drops will not relieve the symptoms of blurry vision from cataracts, although what I thought you were trying to say was that drops cannot relieve blurry vision (from any condition). Thanks for the response.
Brent
Won't help . . . Won't hurt . . . No problem . . .
Appearently I was wrong there are cataract symptoms, below is the synopsis I got from one of the best OMD's.
"In addition to blurred or decreased vision cataracts may cause monocular diplopia or polyopia, glare, halos etc. Also certain types of cataracts may cause glaucoma and/or uveitis. As you know increasing nuclear sclerosis may cause increasing myopia. Surgery is the only effective treatment. There is research regarding medical therapy which hopefully in the future will either prevent or slow progression of cataracts but we are not there yet."
Of course over the counter drops won't help any of these. And if Rx drops do help they should be done under medical supervsion.
thank God it was an OMD.
how do you know it was the best OMD? because they do good surgery? do they smile a lot? do they write your paycheck?
and why do you think he/she says surgery is the best option?
are you aware of the ongoing research suggesting cause and future treatment for cataract? what if there was a drop that could treat cataracts? what do you think the immediate reaction would be?
oh yeah, ask the OMD...
its scary the info here is read by anyone with internet access
To my knowledge homoepathy is charlatanic system of medicine.
I have read somewhere on ongoing research on use of strong anti-oxidant eye drops for delaying the onset of different kinds of lens opacities.I believe will have something in a decade that might prevents cataracts.
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