as the saying goes the only guarantees in life are death and taxes well i want to add one more thing
to that list and that's cataracts surprisingly there are many different types of cataracts that
people can get some you can get at a younger age one of those types of cataracts is called
a Christmas tree cataract and yes that's actually a real thing so in this video
we're going to talk about the different types of cataracts and why you get them let's focus in
hey howdy everybody this is dr neal guymon dr eye guy with a show that focuses on keeping
your eyes healthy and your vision clear i do a lot of educational videos just like this one
so make sure you subscribe for any future videos and also make sure you hit that bell so you don't
miss any videos that come out now let's talk about cataracts cataracts is one of the most
common conditions that eye doctors deal with in fact cataract surgery is one of the most common
surgeries done in america most people that live long enough will get a cataract i'm going to
first go over the more common types of cataracts that we see in the clinic that most people will
get if they live long enough and then stay towards the end of the video i'll go over the more unique
types of cataracts like snowflake cataracts or the rare cataract a Christmas tree cataract it's real
now just a quick summary on cataracts and where they are located cataracts happens in the
crystalline lens the crystalline lens is right behind posterior to the iris or the color part
of your eye this crystalline lens is actually what is responsible for focusing light meaning
transitioning from distance to near that's what allows you to transition your focus this lens is
clear so light can pass through it and be focused on the back of the retina now unfortunately over
time this lens becomes harder more cloudy thicker and eventually kind of is classified as having
a cataract or a cloudy or hazy portion of that lens definitely the most common type of cataract
that we see in the clinic is called a nuclear sclerotic cataract this cataract or opacification
happens usually in the center of the lens or the nucleus and usually what happens is that center
nucleus will opacify over time it will actually kind of turn a yellow color or brunescence and
when this happens people usually have symptoms of decreased contrast they have more glare symptoms
especially when they're driving at nighttime they usually feel like they need more light to read
print so they'll get extra light to read print on a book mainly because that contrast is down
now one interesting symptom that people can get when they get this type of cataract
is they'll have what's called a myopic shift or their eyes will actually become more nearsighted
now it's kind of coined the term a second sight because sometimes people start off far farsighted
and they'll drift towards being nearsighted as that cataract gets worse and it will feel like
that their vision is actually improving over time so sometimes patients will all of a sudden
be flabbergasted and excited because their vision actually starts to improve because of that myopic
shift just depending on where your original prescription started but some people have
the benefit of this myopic shift at least for a while until the cataract actually gets dense
and will start to decrease their visual acuity or decrease their vision to the point where they need
cataract surgery to get that cataract out now the second most common type of cataract that we see is
called a cortical cataract and this cataract usually starts on the outside edges of the
crystalline lens and actually looks like little bicycle spokes or wheel spokes that start from
the outside edge and go towards the center of the lens and when we look at people's eyes at patients
eyes we can actually see little spokes kind of sneaking in towards the center of the of the lens
and the closer these little spokes these little opacifications get to the center of the lens
that's when people start having symptoms or it starts causing decreased vision glare
problems and becomes annoying and these little spokes or these little cortical cataracts usually
have a white or a hazy appearance sometimes it could be a darker appearance as well but yeah
comes from the sides entering to the center kind of like little fingers now the third most common
type of cataract that we see are called subcapsular cataracts there's an anterior
subcapsular cataract and probably the most common one is a posterior subcapsular cataract now this
crystalline lens actually sits in a bag in your eye it's called the capsular bag or the capsule
and this cataract the subcapsular cataract forms right underneath that bag and it almost forms
like a little blanket that spreads across that bag or across that lens now what's interesting
the first two types of cataracts that i mentioned the nuclear cataract and the cortical cataracts
they're usually age related meaning the older people get the more likely they're going to
get these types of cataracts now this type of cataract the subcapsular cataract can also be
age related but the posterior subcapsular cataract is also linked to people that have had steroid use
corticosteroids or diabetes with high blood sugar levels can form this posterior subcapsular
cataract now what kind of stinks is that posterior subcapsular cataract like i said forms a blanket
right on the back of that lens and it's just a horrible spot because a lot of times it does form
near the center of the central visual axis and can actually decrease the patient's vision quite a bit
and can be drastic or can happen really quick they're very hard to predict on how fast this type
of cataract will spread i've seen some patients where they'll just have the little beginnings
of a subcapsular cataract and all of a sudden six months later they're needing cataract surgery
because it's spread just enough to cover their central visual access and completely devastated
their vision now another type of cataract to be aware of is something called a traumatic
cataract meaning if you have trauma to the eye you can develop a cataract in your lens
and this can be blunt trauma meaning if you're punched in the eye or you get hit in the eye
can cause a cataract down the road a traumatic cataract and they do have a specific appearance
in fact sometimes they'll call they're called a rosette cataract they're almost sometimes shaped
like a rose or they'll have this flower appearance or they'll just be a certain section or a certain
wedge of the lens that has this cataract in it now another kind of interesting type of cataract
is something called vacuoles they usually look like little tiny bubbles that have formed inside
the crystalline lens now the good thing about these vacuoles is usually the patients are
asymptomatic it doesn't really cause any problems with their vision or glare unless you have a ton
of them but usually they're kind of sporadic and spread out sometimes they can form into a
you know a more centralized location but usually and luckily this type of cataract
really doesn't cause that many problems now like i said before cataracts can be present even
in youngsters in fact there are congenital or infantile cataracts and usually the most common
type of presentation of this type of cataract is an opacification that kind of surrounds the
embryonic nucleus of that crystalline lens now what's tricky is sometimes this cataract
doesn't really affect the vision of the child but it can and so what's tricky is determining
is if the cataract is visually significant that's that's going to delay the development of that eye
and so it's hard to determine if that eye will need cataract surgery to get that opacification
out there and then what's tricky on top of that is if you do the cataract surgery it's pretty common
that that child may develop glaucoma down the road in that eye that had the cataract surgery in there
and on top of that is when they take that lens out they don't want to put a new lens in there because
they're still growing and so a lot of times that child baby infant toddler needs to wear
a contact lens usually a hard contact lens to help develop that eye so that i can see so that type of
cataract can be a little complicated hey before i get to the more unique types of cataracts just
take a second and comment below if you yourself have dealt with a cataract or if you have any
questions about cataracts and also leave a like if you found value from this video now one unique
type of cataract is actually called a snowflake cataract now the patients that usually get this
type of cataract are usually really sensitive and overly offended and they'll get this cataract
i'm just kidding it's not that type of snowflake cataract let me explain so snowflake cataracts
are actually found in diabetics it's sometimes called a diabetic cataract and
even young patients even 30 years old can actually get this type of cataract depending on
how their diabetes is now if your blood sugar is out of control usually what happens is you'll get
glucose that actually gets into the crystalline lens and this glucose is converted to sorbitol
now sorbitol almost acts like a sponge it actually sucks in water and creates a high water content
within that lens so it turns the lens into a sponge now if you can imagine if that crystal
lens is a sponge and soaks up water actually get thicker and change shape and this will also cause
a shift in vision it can be a myopic shift usually if your glucose levels or blood sugar levels are
really high and so a lot of times in diabetics that don't have their blood sugar under control
may experience changes in vision it's because of that lens changing shape now this process
of glucose getting into the edges of the crystalline lens will actually cause these little
white snowflake opacifications on the outside of that lens and that's why
they call it a snowflake cataract now one of the more rare types of cataracts is called
a Christmas tree cataract now the reason why they call it a Christmas tree cataract is because
it actually looks like a Christmas tree now this type of cataract can actually produce a little
colorful opacifications inside the lens it's usually deep cortex or the nucleus of the lens now
these little opacities can look like little red green or gold little sparkles and there also can
be purple that kind of looks like little christmas tinsel draped across the christmas tree now this
type of cataract is obviously not as common it can be age related but usually it's more commonly
found in people with myotonic dystrophy myotonic dystrophy is a progressive muscle weakness disease
and this cataract can actually occur at any age now there are many other different
types of cataracts out there cataracts can be caused by a number of different things systemic
conditions different diseases genetic disorders medications can cause certain types of cataracts
age related obviously so this just hits home that it's really important that you go in
for your regular eye exams with your eye doctor so they can actually look at the
health of the eye check your lens out even if your vision is great you feel like you see great
you have 20 20 vision one of the most important things of an eye exam is to make sure your eyes
are healthy and this is one of the many things that we check when we're doing
a comprehensive eye exam and as always thanks for watching i'm dr neal guymon
dr eye guy looking out for you and your eyes stay focused and i'll see you in the next video