Cataracts Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Cataracts, including details on surgical procedures, outcomes, causes, treatment.

Green cataract.

Drews RC

Department of Ophthalmology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63130, USA. rcdrewsmd@prodigy.net

The green cataract seen in the 16th to 18th centuries was reinterpreted in the 19th century (on the basis of pathological examinations) to be a greenish color of the light returning through the pupil in an eye with absolute glaucoma and not due to a greenish discoloration of a cataract. Were the older observers in error? It seems unlikely. This article presents photographs of true green cataracts--ie, opaque lenses of greenish color--from my own practice; a published photograph of a green cataract; and histopathological documentation of the cause, iron (blood pigment).

Published 11 April 2006 in Arch Ophthalmol, 124(4): 579-86.
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