Of all the serious eye diseases, the most common is cataracts, which is a gradual clouding of the lens of the eye caused by chemical changes in the structure of the lens.

Like the lens of your glasses, the eyes’ own lenses function to bring images into focus on the retina, which is the nerve layer of the eye.

Normally, the lenses of our eyes are crystal clear — like the lenses of clean glasses.

However, when a cataract begins to develop, vision becomes blurry and it is difficult to focus on objects or read print clearly. Glare also becomes a problem.

Eyes’ lenses are different from the lenses of your glasses or a camera lens in that eyes’ lenses are elastic, changing shape as needed to focus on objects that are near or far away.

Special muscles inside the eyes regulate the shape of the lenses as needed.

When a cataract develops, not only does the lens become cloudy, it also loses its ability to change shape.