My eyesight is getting better?! How can I have a cataract?

My eyesight is getting better?!   How can I have a cataract?

Initial vision improvement with cataract is very common but counterintuitive.

Cataract development will often cause a shift in your prescription before the lens goes very cloudy.   This shift if often (but not always) towards nearsightedness.

Think about the range of all prescriptions like a number-scale with farsightedness on one side of the scale and nearsightedness on  the other side.  Zero/perfect is in the middle.  If you were quite farsighted for all of your life and your cataracts are causing a nearsighted shift… the shift cancels out some of your old prescription bringing you closer to zero/perfect.   You will see better without your glasses than perhaps you have in years!...  until of course the cataract gets denser and starts to cloud your vision.

Some eye care professionals refer to this shift as “second sight”.  Again, “second sight” occurs when the prescription shift caused by the cataract is opposite to your pre-existing Rx.