To understand what a cataract is, you have to understand a little bit about how the eye works.
Your eye is made mostly of water and protein and works a lot like a camera lens. Your eye focuses light onto the retina while it adjusts the eyes focus. This not only allows us to see, but it allows us to see objects clearly that are both close up, and far away.
Cataracts form as we get older and some of the protein in our eyes begins to clump together and this creates a clouded area on a small part of the lens.
We don't know for sure why this happens, but we do know that it is related to aging.
Researchers have developed other ideas as well such as
Diabetes
Hypertension
Obesity
Smoking
Corticosteroid medications
Statin medicines used to reduce cholesterol
Eye injury or inflammation
Eye surgery
Hormone replacement therapy
Significant alcohol consumption
High myopia
Or simply a family history of eye disease.
Cataracts can cause permanent damage to your eyes if they go untreated. The important thing is, that if you think you may have a cataract, contact your eye doctor as soon as possible and find out if you do.