Does anyone have any info on these?
About 20 years ago when I was around 20 I was told I had cataracts. I don't recall my family eye dr. mentioning them when I was little but he may have told my mom and she never mentioned them. I've had 2 eye drs and one family dr discuss them with me but I wish I knew more. The new eye dr I went to yesterday was quite interested and apparently I was the first case he had seen. From what he said unlike normal cataracts that fog the center of lens during aging, or the type that form on the back side of the lens, mine are multayered. and scattered around the center of the lens but not actually in the center. I have also had them explained to me as snowflake crystals. He was surprised that I could see much at all b/c he said he had trouble see IN through the lens and imagined I should have difficulty seeing out. My eye sight is bad but with contact or glasses in 20/20.
I would love to hear from anyone that knows anything about this. All the drs assume I've had them since birth but I guess we;ll never know that. this guy said it was very likely a birth/inutero problem.
My mother did drink and smoke heavily but we never discussed her habits while pregnant with me.
All the drs seem to think these will not cause much of a problem just an earlier than average cataract surgery. This dr saying he could almost bet prior to age 70. I wonder how you'd do that if the cataracts are throughout the thickness of the lens and not on the surface.

I have so many questions but my dr had never seen eyes like mine beofre and he had to look it up in a medical journal. :eek:

Any one? any ideas?

Shelby, not sure what you meant by "This dr saying he could almost bet prior to age 70. I wonder how you'd do that if the cataracts are throughout the thickness of the lens and not on the surface." Cataract surgery is removal of the entire lens and replacement with an artificial lens (IOL). And prior to age 70? Gee, tons of people, including posters here, have had cataract surgery before the age of 70 and thay weren't congenital cataracts. Cataract surgery is an everyday procedure now--you might want to consider it sooner, rather than later. Although you seem to see well now, you would be amazed at the difference after surgery.

You might be interested in this, although it doesn't describe your unusual type.
There are three types of cataracts, each defined by their location on the lens:


Nuclear - this type of cataract is located in the center of the lens and is usually the result of advancing age

Cortical - this type of cataract resembles the spokes of a wheel which extend from the outside of the lens to the center and is usually associated with patients who suffer from diabetes

Subcapsular - this type of cataract develops at the back of the lens under the capsule and is usually associated with patients who take steroids or who suffer from diabetes.

K.

.I am just assuming he used the 70 yr old reference in the respect that many average people do not develop cataracts bad enough to remove prior to age 70.

"Cataract surgery is removal of the entire lens and replacement with an artificial lens (IOL)."

not always so. Sometimes lasers are used. I wasn't sure if mine would cause any complications or difficulties in surgury. Have you had this surgery? What was it like?

I was going on what my dr and what info I found on the internet said. Most of what I've read and I've been told that most people start getting them at around 65-75. At age 65 I'll have had mine 65 years.



I don't think doing the surgery now would be a good idea. As far as we can tell they are not growing at this time. If they remain the same I may not need surgery at all. I have not been able to find much of anything about the type of cataracts I have. We've been calling them congential cataracts but we are not even sure if that is what this is called. My childhood eye dr and my parents are all deceased so we really have no long term data to go with.
thats my hope of posting here. Surely someone out there has the same problem or may know someone who does.

Yes as far as the types, I have research those three types in the past and don't believe I fall into any of those catagories. it is strange though that most articles on cataracts only discuss removeal at birth of congential cataracts or they mention them just in passing.


thanks for the respons keela.. any one else?

..."Cataract surgery is removal of the entire lens and replacement with an artificial lens (IOL)."

not always so. Sometimes lasers are used. ...
I was also under the impression that cataracts were removed from the lens with lasers, but I realize now that it's just not the case.
I had my "early onset" cataracts removed 7 months ago.
We are right now in the midst of tremendous advances in the quality of intraocular lens implants. If you can wait another 10 years, you will get even better ones.
If you can see 20/20 now, if the text on a page is not gray instead of black, and if you can drive at night, then cataract surgery will only improve your vision in some ways, but will be a set back in others. Especially if you're near-sighted now.
You're wise to wait.

Thanks for your input. At this time I don't notice a deficit in my eyesight. Perhaps that is b/c I'm used to it. The only things i notice is I am uncomfortable visually driving at night esp when there is a glare from water on the roads. The dr. explained that as most cataracts are in the center of the lens, mine are not. there fore during the day they are not even in my line of sight. At night when my pupil are wide open - that;s when they become an issue. Road signs at night are hard to focus on.And most days every thing looks like a hot summer hazy day. Even if its not. but it does not significantly lessen my eyesight. So unless someone tells me differently over the years I would like to wait as long as possible. It does interest me HOW I got these. My mom was an alcoholic and a heavy smoker and had little prenatal care..not sure if she was smoking and drinking when she was pregannt with me... I also have really really bad teeth. It is curious to me to see if any of these things are related.

There are some systems being developed to remove cataracts with laser, but these are still in the early stages of clinical practice. We do not believe there is a better or safer technique for cataract removal than ***** at the moment. We do not know of any centres in Australia that routinely use a laser to remove cataracts.

Shelby, lasers are used to punch a hole in the membrane that holds the new IOL when/if it becomes cloudy.

K.

I have read up on places in the US that use lasers to break up the cataracts not actually remove them. It will be interesting and hopeful if they can fine tune something like that.

Yes, that does kind of ring a bell. Probably depends on the location/type of cataract too.

K.