The Pediatric Cataract Service at Boston Children's Hospital provides highly specialized care for children with the most difficult cases of pediatric cataracts. Cataracts in babies and young children are treated urgently because they can have a lasting effect on their vision development.
As the cloudy lens blocks light from getting into the eye, the brain gets no visual experience through that eye, at a time when the eye and brain are working together to learn to see. As a result, a baby or child with an untreated cataract could be slowly going blind, and if cataract surgery is delayed, it might be too late to help.
Our expertise and collaboration
Our Pediatric Cataract Service’s researchers and clinicians work side-by-side and train fellows who come here from all over the world. Our collaborative approach improves the way cataracts and other eye conditions are treated in babies and children.
Innovations in pediatric cataract care
Pediatric ophthalmologists at Boston Children’s routinely treat cataracts and have removed cataracts in babies as young as 3 days old. We’ve also successfully implanted intraocular lenses in babies as young as 6 months old. Our doctors are part of a national multi-eye center study to determine whether intraocular lenses can be safely implanted in infants younger than 6 months old. Our doctors also use specialized tools and equipment, including a supine YAG laser.
