Of our five basic senses – vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell – most people will say that vision is the most important of the five. Most of us process the world and people around us through our vision above all other senses. Our vision helps us move through an ever-complicated world.

Many of us take our vision for granted until something happens to change it. Without the miracles of modern medicine, chances are I would be totally blind by now, so please trust me when I say that vision is not to be taken for granted. Additionally, my oldest daughter is now legally blind and fears losing any more of her limited vision.

If I were to ask you to list the top 5 leading causes of blindness for people 40-years of age and older, could you do it? Do you even know what they are?

Here is the list, in alphabetical order – age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa.

Take a moment and try to list them by the most common cause of blindness first and so on.

Okay, here is the list in order of occurrence:

1) Cataracts

2) Glaucoma

3) Age-related macular degeneration

4) Diabetic retinopathy

5) Retinitis pigmentosa

How did you do?

Some of these are not curable, but some are treatable.

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology about 24.4 million Americans over the age of 40 have cataracts. As you get older, the occurrence increases to the point that about half of everyone 75-years of age have cataracts.

Cataracts don’t play favorites according to ethnicity until you get older. According to the National Eye Institute, the rate of cataracts for whites, blacks, Hispanics and other ethnic groups is equal until the ages of 70-74. From there on, the incidents of cataracts are higher in white Americans by 8% to 10%. From age 70-74, black Americans have the lowest incidence of cataracts.

When you look at someone’s eye, the center section (iris and pupil) are covered with a natural lens. The lens is thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges. It bends the light rays as they enter the eye and focuses them on the retina in the back of the eye. The lens is attached to muscles that can pull it thinner or allow it to thicken to help you focus.

Over time, especially if one spends a lot of time outside in the sun, the lens can begin to get cloudy. This cloudiness can make the vision blurry, out-of-focus and if not treated, will become so cloudy that it will block all so much light that you become blind. Cataracts often are referred to as the yellowing of the lens, as it can cause everything you see to have a yellowish tint.

Cataracts are frequently easily treatable, I know, as I’ve had cataracts in both eyes and had them both surgically treated. Like I said, I would probably be blind today had it not been for modern medical techniques.

I first had a cataract form in my left eye. I noticed my vision was a little blurry and thought I needed new glasses, so I went to see my eye doctor. He had examined me only 8 months earlier and my eyes were fine. That’s when he discovered the cataract in just that eye. He said that normally, cataracts are slow developing and the stage of my cataract was like that of one at least 10-15 years in the making, but since it was not there 8 months ago, he said it was a less common type that can form rapidly.

I was scheduled for surgery, where they cut out the lens in my right eye and replaced it with an artificial lens, which is still there today, about 25 years later. Besides being able to see much sharper with the artificial lens, I noticed that white objects seemed whiter and blue objects seemed bluer. That’s because the cataract gave everything a yellowish tint, but the new lens was clear and wow, colors popped like I hadn’t seen them in a year.

About 8 years later, a cataract developed in my other eye and it was also surgically replaced with a clear artificial lens. With new clear lens in both eyes, I really noticed the difference in many colors, especially whites and blues.

Cataracts can form in younger people, but they occur more often as you get older. Regardless of your age, if you notice that things are looking a little blurry, not quite as sharp or a bit yellow, see your doctor. You could have a cataract and if so, there is a good chance it can be surgically repaired just as mine were. Remember, cataracts are the number one cause of blindness but it doesn’t have to be with you.