PATIENTS having cataract surgery are getting younger, according to surgeons at a Bradford eye hospital

Research by the Optegra Eye Hospital Yorkshire shows a trend that a third of British adults now know someone who has been diagnosed and treated for cataracts in their 50s or 60s despite the eye condition historically affecting the over 70s.

Anne Gilvarry, ophthalmic surgeon at the hospital in Greengates, said: "Ten years ago, if I had seen someone in their 50s who had cataracts, I would have been really concerned, ordering extra scans and blood tests but now I regularly see such patients."

Almost one fifth of the hospital's inquiries about cataract treatment are now from people in their 40s and 50s, said Ms Gilvarry.

And she is warning the cause might be the the impact of sun exposure and UV rays, trauma and diabetes.

She said today's adults are also less tolerant of imperfections and loss of function so are more likely to seek treatment earlier in life.

About 225,000 new cases of sight-reducing cataracts are expected each year in the UK.

Ms Gilvarry added: "Such a high number of people have consultations for vision correction or to check their general eye health and are surprised to realise they have cataracts.

"The symptoms can be gradual, and so sometimes it is only when people are treated that they realise how cloudy or blurred their vision had become.

"One in three of us is likely to develop cataracts so we are calling on people to really be aware of the symptoms and to have their eyes checked regularly."

Cataract is the most common cause of treatable blindness and accounted for about 20 million cases of blindness worldwide in 2010.

Surgery to correct the condition deals with more than 333,000 cases in England every year and is the third most common procedure carried out in hospital by the NHS behind live births and cardiac treatments.