A clear look at cataract conditions and treatments

Nuclear sclerosis should be differentiated from true cataract

Bilateral nuclear sclerosis with senile incipient equatorial cortical cataracts in left > right eye. Photo Kathryn A. Diehl

For clinical anatomy, it is useful to think of the lens like a peanut M&M: composed of the “candy shell” capsule, the “chocolate” cortex, and the “peanut” dense nucleus. The lens cells are elongate, spanning from the front to the back of the lens, meeting at the “sutures.” After being produced at the equator, lens cells are sequentially compressed in to the lens center by new growth, making the nucleus denser with age (nuclear sclerosis).

The lens focuses images on the retina. To do that, it must be transparent and in the proper position: suspended in place (behind the iris and centered in the pupil) by th...


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