29 Years Old. Got Cataract In Both Eyes. What Is The Underlying Cause?

Posted on Wed, 6 Mar 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 6 Mar 2013 Answered on

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : My wife has got cataract in both eyes. Her age is just 29. I was wondering what could be the reason for this to get cataract at such an young age.

Answered by Dr. N K Mishra (46 hours later)

Dear XXXXXXX,
Thanks for sending your query to us.
The reasons for cataract at this young age are different.
1) metabolic including diabetese,myotonic dystrophy and dermatitis
2)injury then unlikely to be in both eyes.
3)toxic mostly drug induced.Most important drug being steroids,anti psychotics
4)secondary where there is some other disease in the eye resulting in cataract,like uveitis,radiation and tumors.
5)presenile this is where we are not able to find out a reason for cataract and the pt. apparently is not old enough to be in cataract age group.
6)genetic some people have a family history of developing cataract early in life.
I have given you a list of theoretical possibilities of a young person developing cataract.
Please do get back to me in case of any further query in this regard.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar