Blink
Can You Guess December's Mystery Condition?
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Make your diagnosis in the comments, and look for the answer in next month’s Blink.
Last Month’s Blink
“Evanescent Cataract,” or Gas-Induced Lenticular Opacification
Written by Priya Bajgai, MBBS, and Ramandeep Singh, MBBS. Photos by Dr. Bajgai. Both are at Advanced Eye Centre, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
A 45-year-old man presented with complaints of diminishing vision in his right eye for 1 week. Fundus examination revealed a total retinal detachment with hand motion vision in that eye. The left eye was normal. He underwent pars plana vitrectomy with scleral buckle and a gas tamponade with sulfur hexachloride. On the first day postoperatively, the posterior segment examination revealed an attached retina with a 90% gas-filled eye. In addition, we observed a new-onset posterior subcapsular cataract, which had a ferning pattern (Fig. 1).
On subsequent follow-up appointments over 7 days, we saw the gradual disappearance of the cataract (Fig. 2) without any intervention, which is why we call it “evanescent cataract.” The reason for the disappearance is unclear; we attribute it mainly to gas-induced oxidative stress—as the gas was absorbed the cataract vanished.
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