Cataracts

A cataract is a clouding of the natural lens of the eye. It which disrupts light passing through the pupil to the back of the eye. A cataract leads to diminished sight and eventually to blindness if untreated. Cataract may be caused by aging, medical conditions (such as diabetes), long-term use of medications, or genetics.
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Cataract surgery involves removing the cloudy natural lens of the eye and replacing it with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL)​

There are several different IOL technologies available, which are divided into three major categories: monofocal, toric, and presbyopic-correcting. The type of lens implanted will dictate the range of vision a patient has after surgery, and how much independence they will have from glasses.
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Monofocal IOL: the monofocal lens is a lens that provides a fixed focus for a single range of vision. The range may be fixed for near (reading), intermediate (computer), OR distance (driving), but only one range can be chosen. This corrected range will be clear assuming little or no astigmatism exists. The remaining ranges of vision may be corrected after cataract surgery using glasses or contacts. A monofocal lens has a low instance of glare and/or halos at night.​

Toric IOL: the toric IOL is an astigmatic version of a monofocal IOL. Unlike a standard monofocal lens, a toric lens provides astigmatism correction for those who need it. The toric IOL has fixed focus like the standard monofocal lens, and will correct either near, intermediate, OR distance vision.
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Presbyopic-correcting IOL: these IOL technologies provide patients with more than one area of focus. With these IOL’s, most patients will achieve quality vision in at least 2 of the 3 commonly needed areas of focus (near, intermediate and far) without the need of glasses.​