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Traumatic cataract
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Modern eye injuries are characterized by a special severity, causing the death of the eye in 72.2% of cases. Symptoms of the consequences of eye contusion, which are complicated by damage to the lens are severe, and the outcomes are unfavorable, than with traumatic cataracts, which are caused by perforating wounds.
Traumatic cataract is divided into:
- wound (if the lens capsule is broken and other signs of penetrating injury);
- contusional;
- chemical.
After the trauma of the lens, its displacement (dislocation or subluxation) is noted.
Contusion cataract
- ring-shaped cataract Fossius - clouding in the form of a ring as a result of a pigment print of the pupil edge of the iris at the moment of concussion. The pigment dissolves within a few weeks;
- rosette - banded subcapsular clouding, which then spreads to the center of the rosette, and vision is steadily declining. The first and second types of cataracts are not accompanied by rupture of the capsule, but arise as a result of concussion;
- When the capsule breaks, total cataract occurs.
Chemical cataracts
Opacification of the lens as a result of a change in the acidity of the moisture in the anterior chamber. With alkaline burns, cataracts can develop late, with cataract burns with acids develops in the first hours, accompanied by damage to the eyelids, conjunctiva, and cornea.
Professional cataract
Radiation, thermal, caused by gas and electric welding, arising from poisoning.
Radial cataracts
The lens absorbs X-rays, radiation beams, neurons and the shortest-wavelength parts of infrared rays. Radial cataracts begin to develop at the posterior pole and are in the form of a disc or ring located between the back bag and the cleavage zone. Against the backdrop of opacity, color overflows are visible (with biomicroscopy). The latent period can last ten years or more. Care must be taken with radiotherapy of the head and especially the orbit. Cataracts caused by microwave radiation have the same characteristics: cloudiness in the equator zone, in the lower half of the lens, under the capsule. The lesion is usually bilateral. It spreads very slowly.
Thermal cataract
Cataracts of glass blowers, workers of hot shops are known. These types of cataracts are called fire. Cataracts of glassblowers differ in that they suffer before not capsular and posterocortical layers. A distinctive feature is the slipping of the capsule in the pupil area.
Cataracts in poisoning
Opacification of the lens, arising from common severe poisoning, is known for a long time. Such poisoning can cause ergot. They are accompanied by mental disorders, seizures and severe eye pathology - a violation of the oculomotor function and complicated by cataract. Toxic effects on the lens are also provided by naphthalene, thallium, dinitrophenol, trinitrotoluene, nitro dyes. They can enter the body through the respiratory tract, stomach and skin. Cases of cataracts are known when taking certain medicinal substances, for example, sulfonamides. If the release of toxic substances into the body stops, toxic cataracts in the initial period can resolve. Long-term exposure to toxic substances on the lens causes irreversible turbidity. In these cases, surgical treatment is required.