Have you heard of congenital cataracts?

“This is a disease that only old people get.”

When it comes to cataracts, many people will have the above reaction, but is cataract really just a disease of the elderly? The answer is of course no.

Under normal circumstances, the human lens is transparent. Aging, genetics, local nutritional disorders, immune and metabolic abnormalities, trauma, poisoning, radiation and other reasons can cause the lens transparency to decrease or the color to change, causing blurred vision and decreased vision, all of which are called cataracts. Since cataracts are more common among middle-aged and elderly people, it is often mistakenly believed that only the elderly will get cataracts. In fact, people of any age are at risk of developing cataracts, and children can also get cataracts.

What are congenital cataracts?

Congenital cataract refers to partial or complete opacity of the lens that gradually forms within one year after birth. It is mainly related to genetic and developmental disorders. It is a common eye disease in children and one of the important causes of blindness and amblyopia in children.

The dangers of congenital cataracts

1. Impaired vision: The patient's lens becomes cloudy and the light transmittance of the lens decreases, causing the patient to suffer from impaired vision, myopia, amblyopia, and even blindness.

2. Strabismus: Under the influence of congenital cataracts, the patient's vision is usually poor, and there may be an imbalance in binocular vision, which makes it impossible for the patient to stare at objects for a long time, making it easy for the eye position to deviate and eventually form strabismus.

3. Nystagmus: Congenital cataract patients usually have opaque spots in their eyes, which can easily block the normal entry of light and may make the eyeball unable to remain fixed, thus causing nystagmus in the patient.

Director Cao Xiangrong of Tianjin University Aier Eye Hospital said that when parents find that their children tilt their heads to look at things, have poor gaze function, cannot grasp objects accurately, and have no response to light stimulation, they should be alert to the occurrence of congenital cataracts.

Infancy is a critical period for visual development. If a child has congenital cataracts, it will affect visual development, so parents must pay attention to it, detect it early and intervene.