Cataracts are a common eye disease, suffered by many elderly people, which can lead to decreased eyesight and consequently, making life very difficult.

Often surgery is seen as the solution, but it is not the only way out. TCM suggests herbal medicines that reinforce the liver, kidney or spleen may help delay aggravation of cataracts in their early stages.

Cataracts are a clouding of the crystalline lens of the eye that can cause varying degrees of sight impairment from decreased eyesight to complete blindness.

Cataracts are generally divided into three categories according to different causes ?? senile cataracts, congenital cataracts and traumatic cataracts.

Senile cataracts cover more than 80 percent of all cataract cases, according to Dr Li Mingfei, director of the Ophthalmology Department of Longhua Hospital attached to Shanghai University of TCM.

People over the age of 50 are most likely to suffer senile cataracts while more than 80 percent of people over 70 suffer from senile cataracts of different levels, she claims.

TCM believes that weakened energy in organs due to aging is the main cause of senile cataracts.

Bright eyes rely on nourishment from organs.

Weakened energy lessens the nutrition and energy sent to the eyes, resulting in unclear lenses. The kidney, liver, or spleen are the main energy and nutrition suppliers to the eyes and their failure can directly lead to decreased eyesight.

The process of decreasing eyesight among senile cataract sufferers varies from person to person. It may initially occur at age 50 but then take years to rob one's eyesight completely. Or the condition can have a severe impact in just a few months.

The problem with senile cataracts is that surgery is not an immediate solution once people discover they have the condition.