Smart Cataract Detector: An Image Processing-Based Mobile Application for Cataract Detection

Iintroduction

A cataract is a type of eye disease that causes blindness. Ophthalmologists who perform Cataract detection take a lot of time to take the right decision. Smartphones popularity has helped in the development of mobile applications. Smartphones are considered to be the platforms that offer cost-effective solutions for many problems in various domains like healthcare, agriculture, IoT, etc., Hence, a medical practitioner is no longer required to appear in person to monitor the patients. The short version of cataract is myopia and the long-term version is called blindness. A cataract is found to occur in the eye lens. The lens is made up of proteins and they are arranged in an organized manner. So cataract occurs due to the accumulation of proteins in the lens. The symptoms of cataract include cloudy or blurred vision, increasing difficulty with vision at night, yellowing of colors that would eventually lead to blindness. A congenital cataract is one of the types of cataracts which affects children. It can also occur due to eye injuries that have affected the lens. Cataracts can also be a genetic disorder.

A cataract is classified into three types based on the area of protein deposition. They are named as nuclear cataracts, cortical cataract, and posterior sub-capsular cataracts. Nuclear cataract as the name suggests develops a cloudy layer of proteins on the nucleus of the lens. The type of cataract normally affects the elderly. A cortical cataract develops in the cortex of the lens which surrounds the lens. A posterior sub-capsular cataract develops at the back of the lens. People suffering from diabetes and those taking steroids are also at the risk of having such cataracts.

Figure 1.

Normal eye vs. cataract eye