Cataracts cause the lens or your eye to slowly become cloudy. The progressive eye disease is a leading cause of vision loss and blindness in the United States. The only effective means of treating cataracts is through cataract surgery.

Beyond making daily life difficult, cataracts can make driving more dangerous. To lower your risk of being in a serious car accident, patients should consider undergoing safe and effective cataract surgery before their cataracts inhibit daytime and nighttime driving. At Peña Eye Institute in Harlingen, TX, we offer cataract surgery using advanced techniques.

Can I Drive If I Have Cataracts?

Every patient’s case is unique. The first thing you should do is seek the advice of an eye doctor. Dr. Raul Peña will examine your eye to see how advanced the cataract is. For some patients, the earliest stages of cataracts may not cause noticeable vision impairment.

Consult Your Eye Doctor

If your vision is not impaired yet, you can wait to undergo cataract surgery. It is important to understand that cataracts will worsen over time. If you are not scheduling regular eye exams at our Harlingen eye care center, you may not notice the progressive loss of vision due to cataracts.

Driver’s License Vision Tests

Renewing your driver’s license will likely require a vision test. Don’t wait until your vision is so impaired that you cannot pass your driver’s license vision test. Cataract surgery is a safe and effective means of restoring your vision so you can drive safely during the day and at night.

How Do Cataracts Affect My Driving?

Driving requires clear vision and careful attention to road conditions. Beyond navigating traffic, safe driving requires that you are able to see up and down the road while reading street signs and watching out for pedestrians.

Common symptoms of cataracts that make driving difficult include:

• Blurry objects
• Difficulty seeing in bright and dim environments
• Faded colors
• Double vision
• Headlight glare

Cataracts can also result in changes to eyeglass or contact prescriptions. Many people with this progressive eye disease find that they have to update their prescriptions frequently.

What Are My Options If My Cataracts Affect My Driving?

If your cataracts are impairing your ability to drive safely, you have two options: rely on friends or public transportation to get around or schedule your cataract surgery with Dr. Peña.

Dr. Peña works with advanced intraocular lens implants (IOLs) such as Crystalens® that improve focusing ability. Intraocular lens implants allow our Harlingen patients to see at both near and far distances when driving.

Schedule Your Cataract Surgery Today

Cataracts can seriously impair your ability to drive safely. For your safety and the safety of others, we recommend that you visit our office for regular eye exams. Individuals over the age of 60 are at a higher risk of having cataracts. To schedule your next visit, please contact our office online or call (956) 661-8733.