How congenital cataracts should be treated

  Because congenital cataracts affect the visual development of children, they should be treated with surgery as early as possible if they are physically able to tolerate it. However, since there are still many debates about its treatment, and the surgical methods and age of surgery vary among families, here we only introduce our little experience, and special children still need special choices.  Patients with both eyes: for those younger than 2 years old, first cataract extraction combined with posterior capsulotomy and anterior vitrectomy, postoperative glasses or corneal contact lenses (contact lenses) correction depending on the specific situation, after 2.5 years old, IOL implantation in 2 phases, postoperative follow-up and appropriate amblyopia training are still required until the vision development is completed after 12 years old, and then the time for future follow-up is decided. For those older than 2 years old, IOL implantation is an option for the first time depending on the eye condition.  Monocular patients: The age of IOL implantation can be appropriately advanced. Some patients can choose IOL implantation at the age of 1.5-2 years old depending on the eye development. Monocular patients have an overall poorer post-operative vision improvement than binocular patients due to the influence of the development of the contralateral dominant eye, which requires the necessary masking of the good eye to encourage the child to develop the affected eye.  The patient’s final vision depends on several factors: the extent of the cataract, the surgery, the cooperation of the family after surgery, and the child’s own development.  Many patients who underwent congenital cataract surgery at our hospital eventually obtained better vision, and there have been many children who have been admitted to key universities. We hope that every parent will persevere to the end, and we sincerely wish that all your children will obtain ideal vision.