Finally, an answer!
Posted by themoneyfamily on July 21, 2009
When we first found out the Penny had cataracts, we realized that any future children we have face a 50% chance of having cataracts as well. I’ve been wondering if there’s anything I can do prior to or during pregnancy that would help lessen that risk – like taking any supplements or whatnot. I did mention it to our PO, who said nothing could be done. But it was the short answer, and I still wondered.
Recently I came across the Ask an Optometrist Blog from the Canadian Association of Optometrists. I submitted my question about preventing cataracts, and was honestly surprised to see an answer in my Google Reader feed today.
’m sorry to hear that your daughter has to suffer this condition. Congenital cataracts are almost always genetic in nature (meaning you are born with them). Because it is a mutation in the genes themselves, there is nothing that you did during pregnancy to cause them, and nothing you could have done to prevent them. It is certainly possible that children from future pregnancies would be affected as well, and there is unfortunately nothing you can do to prevent cataracts. The risk of the genetic mutation being passed on will depend on the inheritance pattern. You can certainly ask your family doctor for a referral to a genetic counsellor to give you an idea of what the chances are of children from future pregnancies developing cataracts.
That being said, cataract surgery is remarkably successful with low risk of complication. Once they are removed, your daughter will have to be followed regularly, but her visual prognosis is good. I hope this helps.
Dr. Donati
Just a note about the site, they can only accept questions from Canadian IP addresses.
