Pre-existing conditions: congenital ocular albinism, nystagmus and astigmatism.
I was wondering if visual deterioration can occur before cataracts are detectable. The reason I ask is that my vision started getting worse about 8 years ago (about age 30). I started getting ophthalmic migraines 1 to 2 times a week (previously it was 1 to 2 times a year) so I decided it was time to start wearing glasses. I didn't wear glasses at all prior to this. The migraines stopped completely. At the time, nothing was mentioned to me about cataracts.
I had been to see an eye doctor 4 times I believe since then (3 different doctors). About 3 1/2 years ago was the last visit to the eye doctor where there was still no mention of cataracts.
About 3 or 4 months ago I went in to get new glasses because mine broke and I had been wearing the glasses I got 8 years ago (kept them as a backup). This is when I was told I had cataracts. Apparently my vision was too blurry to be able to tell that it was cataracts causing the problem so I can't say when the problem was detectable, by me, as cataracts.
I've heard of cataracts with rapid deterioration but going from nothing at all to surgery in 3 1/2 years seems a bit excessive to me. But then, I'm not a doctor.
Is there any reason the doctor I saw 3 1/2 years ago would've decided not to mention it to me (this was not my usual doctor)? Is it possible the deterioration started 8 years ago but the cataracts were undetectable or was that something else entirely? I see a lot of people start wearing glasses in their late 20's to early 30's so I figured it was just natural age-related vision loss.
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Post-Surgery
Another question I have is this... I had the lens replaced in my left eye already and after surgery my vision was very blurry. After about 3 days my near vision cleared up nicely. Up close my vision is as good as it was in my teens (I'm a 1 1/2 months short of 38 now). However, my distance vision (after roughly 20 inches, I haven't actually measured it) is blurrier than it's ever been, to the point that I probably shouldn't be crossing streets. Granted, I don't have glasses yet (still need to get the right eye done) but as I mentioned, I didn't need to wear glasses at all before all this in spite of the astigmatism. The doctor said everything looked good at both post-op visits and the problem was able to be corrected through the phoropter (I think that's what they're called) at the second post-op vistit (a week after surgery), which is great, but it seems rather terrible that it's this bad without correction.
Is this normal? Will I have any more improvement?
Thanks