A cataract is a painless, cloudy area in the lens of your eye. A cataract blocks light from reaching the retina (the nerve layer at the back of the eye) and may cause vision problems.
Cataracts are common in older adults and are linked to aging. Smoking and exposure to too much sunlight are other risk factors. Cataracts can also happen after an eye injury, as a result of eye disease, after you use certain medicines, or as a result of health problems such as diabetes.
Sometimes children are born with cataracts.
Surgery is used to remove cataracts that are causing a problem.
Here are some signs of cataracts in children:
Children who have vision problems from cataracts usually need surgery to remove the cataract. After surgery, the child may need to wear a patch on one of their eyes, wear contact lenses or glasses, or use eyedrops. They may need to do one of these things or some combination of them.
Most of the time, cataracts are found at birth during a doctor exam before the baby leaves the hospital or during well-child checks. If a doctor finds signs of a cataract during an eye exam, your child will be referred to a specialist for diagnosis and treatment.
Be sure to take your child to all their appointments, and follow the directions the doctor gives you. In some cases, this may include having your child wear a patch on the good eye. If the doctor prescribes medicines for your child, give them exactly as directed.
Cataracts are rare in babies and children. But children may be born with cataracts or develop them as a baby, child, or adolescent. Some things that may cause cataracts in a child include genetics, infection during pregnancy, low birth weight, an eye injury, and some medicines.
Cataracts are a painless, cloudy area in the lens of the eye. They block the passage of light to the retina. Nerve cells in the retina detect light entering the eye and send nerve signals to the brain about what the eye sees. Because cataracts block this light, they can cause vision problems.
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