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Home › Articles › Babies › Congenital Cataracts

Congenital Cataracts

Treatment Options for Newborns

By Kelly Burgess

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It's important that unilateral cataracts be diagnosed and treated as early as possible because the strong eye can take over from the weak eye to the point that the child can become functionally blind in one eye, even though the eye itself is technically fine.

Dr. Kenneth Wright, director of the Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus Center in Los Angeles, Calif., explains that this is because eyesight is as much a function of the brain as it is the eye. "A blurred image early in the baby's development damages the areas in the brain that are responsible for vision," says Dr. Wright. "This early blurred image is so disruptive that unless you correct it in the first few weeks of life they never develop vision."

In other words, even if it's corrected later so that the eye is no longer clouded, the brain still "sees" clouds.

Correcting Cataracts
The first, most important step in correcting the potential damage to vision that cataracts can cause is early diagnosis. Dr. Wright says all newborns should be examined for cataracts before leaving the hospital nursery. This is called the Red Reflex Test. It should then be repeated at each well-baby exam throughout the baby's first year.

If a cataract is detected, surgery will generally be done as soon as possile to remove the cataract. Dr. Wright has done surgery on babies as young as 48 hours old. After the natural lens is removed, either a permanent lens is implanted, called an intraocular lens, or the baby is fitted with contact lenses or glasses. What the doctor decides to do depends on a number of factors, including the severity of the cataract and the child's age.


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Congenital Cataracts by Anonymous on 02/20/2010 08:17AM

if i had a congenital contaract removed when i was younger does this mean my baby wil have one even if my partner has perfect vision

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