Final answer:
Cataracts present as a cloudiness in the lens of the eye, leading to dispersed or diffused light and impaired vision.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a client has cataracts, the eye exhibits a distinctive appearance of cloudiness or opacity in the lens. The normally clear lens becomes clouded, which can significantly reduce the sharpness of the image reaching the retina and thus impair vision. This cloudiness is responsible for limiting the amount of light that enters the eye, leading to difficulties in seeing, especially in low light conditions. The condition can also cause the light to be dispersed or diffused as it passes through the clouded lens, further degrading visual clarity.
If the lens of a person's eye is removed due to cataracts, an eyeglass lens with a power of about 16 diopters (D) is typically prescribed to compensate for the loss of the eye's natural lens and restore the eye's focusing ability. Additionally, during procedures such as retina spot-welding to repair tears using laser light, the rays entering a relaxed normal-vision eye must be made parallel to ensure proper focusing on the desired spot on the retina.
For those who have undergone cataract surgery, when an intraocular lens (IOL) is placed within the eye to replace the clouded natural lens, the IOL can often be selected to provide perfect distant vision. However, the ability to read without glasses depends on various factors including whether the IOL provides multifocal capabilities or if the patient has presbyopia, which is an age-related decrease in near vision. If someone was nearsighted (myopic) before the IOL implant, the power of the intraocular lens would likely be less than that of their natural lens in order to correct the myopia.