Imagine you are standing in a room with 100 people, and every single person in that room is blind.

Now consider the statistic above... 80 of these individuals' blindness is preventable. Over 40 of them could have their vision totally restored in a matter of 15 minutes by having cataract surgery.

Cataracts are responsible for over 50% of the world’s preventable blindness. Followed by uncorrected refractive error, glaucoma, and trauma.

What is a cataract?

A cataract is a progressive cloudiness, hardening, and yellowing of the normally transparent lens of the eye, causing blindness. As people in the world live longer, the number of people with cataracts is anticipated to grow, remaining the leading cause of world blindness.

Risk Factors

  • Excessive exposure to sunlight
  • Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol
  • Diabetes
  • High blood pressure
  • Obesity

Photo 1: Patient receiving preliminary eye exam at Aravind Eye Care System.

How common is it?

Most cataracts occur in older people and are related to the aging process, however, you can also be born with it. Congenital cataracts often occurs as part of chondrodysplasia syndroma, congenital rubella, and conradi syndrome birth defects. By age 80, more than half of the world has either had a cataract or has had a cataract surgery.

What are the symptoms?

  • Blurry vision
  • Glare
  • Double vision
  • Color changes
  • Needing a new prescription
  • Trauma to the eyes

How are cataracts treated?

The symptoms of early cataract may be improved with new eyeglasses, brighter lighting, anti-glare sunglasses, or magnifying lenses. If these measures do not help, surgery is the only effective treatment. Surgery involves removing the cloudy lens and replacing it with an artificial intraocular lens. 

Photo 2: After undergoing a 15 minute cataract surgery this patient is recovering in post-op room at Aravind Eye Care System.

SOLO’s Partnership with Aravind Eye Care System

In an effort to address preventable blindness, SOLO Eyewear partners with Aravind Eye Care System to fund cataract surgeries for people in need. Aravind has developed a nationwide system in India that allows them to takes eye care services to the doorstep of the community in need. Since Aravind's founding in 1976, they have treated 29 million patients and performed 3.6 million eye surgeries and laser procedures, making it the world's largest and most productive eye care service group. 

Through our partnership with Aravind Eye Care System and Restoring Vision, SOLO Eyewear has funded eye care for 11,000+ people across 32 countries.