Can early BLURRED VISION caused by CATARACTS be corrected by glasses?

Only partially and only in the early stages. The earliest symptom of cataract development is Presbyopia (the gradual loss of near vision) which can usually be dealt with by reading glasses or progressive/bifocal glasses. There is often a later "myopic shift" that will occur whereby uncorrected near vision may become somewhat better at the expense of the distance vision. These sorts of early changes in vision caused by developing cataract are usually able to be addressed with glasses.

But after that, the decrease in visual function is rarely amenable to that. Contrast sensitivity begins to suffer and in later stages, the ability to read the eye chart (starting with the smaller letters) begins to go. This is the point at which many eye doctors would say you are "beginning to get cataracts." But the true impact on deteriorating visual performance is often not appreciated until the latter stages.

_Written by J. Trevor Woodhams, M.D. - Chief of Surgery, Woodhams Eye Clinic