About two hundred children a year are born in the UK with opacity of the lens of one or both eyes - a cataract. In most cases the lens will be cloudy enough to prevent clear vision developing and the child will need surgery to have the lens removed. For the child to focus thick glasses or a contact lens will be needed. The strength of these will be regularly changed as the child's eye grows, unlike an artificial lens placed inside the eye, which cannot be altered. In a few cases, if the eye is of normal size, a lens implant can be considered particularly if only one eye is affected. In these cases the child has to wear glasses in addition. If cataract is the only abnormality of the eye and the child is treated within the first few months of life, the prognosis for vision is good. It is expected that the child will attend mainstream school and read, although often will have difficulty with distance vision for the white board.

It is most important that children born with cataracts in both eyes have regular eye examinations. In those cases with mild cataract, that does not need a surgical operation, glasses are often needed and the cataract may become denser with time. Children who have had cataract surgery require regular review of their vision development, glasses prescription, a check for glaucoma and examination of their retina.

Most children born with cataracts are otherwise healthy and many will have other family members born with cataract. However, in some cases, cataract is a sign of a syndrome: Down syndrome, Lowe syndrome, Nance-Horan syndrome, deafblindness, Galactosaemia, Marinesco-Sjögren syndrome, Cockayne syndrome, Hallermann-Streiff-Francois syndrome, Pollitt syndrome, Werner syndrome, Rothmund-Thomson syndrome, Zellweger syndrome or Conradi-Hunermann syndrome.

Inheritance patterns
The commonest inheritance pattern is autosomal dominant. However, X-linked and autosomal recessive inheritance of isolated cataract also occurs.

Prenatal diagnosis
This is not yet available for the majority of isolated congenital cataract

The support group for Cataracts is currently in abeyance. Families can use Contact a Family's Freephone Helpline for advice, information and, where possible, links to other families. Contact a Family's web-based linking service Making Contact.org can be accessed at http://www.makingcontact.org