Pathophysiology of Cataracts in Children

A cataract is an opaque area in the lens of your eye. About one in every 250 children develops a cataract during childhood, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Depending on their size and location, cataracts hold the potential to temporarily or permanently impair a child’s vision.

Causes

• Children can be born with cataracts or develop them sometime later in childhood, according to the Children’s Hospital Boston. Some causes of cataracts include genetic disorders, other eye diseases, trauma and diseases such as diabetes.

Symptoms

• As the Children’s Hospital Boston explains, cataracts can cause symptoms such as cloudy or fuzzy vision and impaired eyesight. When viewed with a flashlight, the pupil may appear white rather than dark.

Short-Term Effects

• A cataract can impair a child’s vision by blocking the path of light to the retina, the tissue at the back of the eye that is responsible for receiving images, according to the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.

Long-Term Effects

• Clear images are necessary for an infant to develop vision, according to the Cleveland Clinic. When a cataract impairs an infant’s vision, abnormal visual connections are created; without rapid treatment, permanent vision loss may occur. Vision loss can also occur in older children who develop cataracts, as vision isn’t fully developed until the age of eight or nine.

Treatment

• A cataract that interferes with a child’s vision is treated by surgically removing the affected lens, according to the Cleveland Clinic. To compensate for the missing lens, an intraocular lens may be implanted, or the child may wear glasses or contact lenses.