Visual results after surgery for monocular juvenile cataracts of undetermined onset

Seventeen of 216 operations I performed for juvenile cataract were in patients between 1 and 51/4 years of age who had monocular cataract of unknown origin and unknown time of onset. In 14 of them final visual acuities were 20/50 or better. In an additional eight children in whom the age at onset of the cataract could not be determined with certainty, but in whom microphthalmos suggested that it was congenital, the visual results were uniformly poor. Surgery for a monocular cataract of undetermined onset in a young child without microphthalmos may carry an excellent prognosis.