Opacifications within the lens

Aetiology

• Many different causes, often age-related
• Many different types
• 50% of all causes of blindness worldwide

Risk factors

• Cumulative UVB damage increases likelihood of cataracts; there is an alteration in reparative mechanisms with age
• Hypertension
• Smoking
• Post operative and trauma
• Steroids
• Metabolic disorders e.g. diabetes - changes to osmotic pressures and altering of fluid content in lens damages epithelial cells and fibres
• Genetic

Pathophysiology

• Epithelium of the lens matures with time and eventually the cell contents are replaced and the nucleus disappears
• The cell outline is left and becomes a fibre within the lens
• In cataracts there is degenerative change of the fibres resulting in opacifications

Clinical features

• Gradual visual loss ('hazy'/'blurred')

Management