Cataract risk: should kids just about always wear sunglasses outdoors?

Factual Questions
1

Just got an email from my sister, who’s pushing 50. She and her family live in a small Ohio River town. She wrote that she and her husband

*both have the beginnings of cataracts, although nothing serious and our eye doctor just wants to see us both again on a yearly basis.

Here’s the “you learn something new every day” part and the reason I’m writing to you . . . Dr. B. told us that thirty or forty years ago, he would have been shocked and dismayed to see two folks in their mid-40s with the beginnings of cataracts. But he says he’s seeing it now on a regular basis, and it’s pretty much attributable to the widening hole in the ozone and the resultant strength of the sun’s rays. If we had worn sunglasses regularly as kids, we might not now have the beginnings of cataracts.

To combat it for our kids, Dr. B. said he couldn’t urge us strongly enough to have them wear sunglasses every single time they’re outside. “I understand they’re not going to do it all the time, but as much as possible is really important,” he said. He also said just about any kind of sunglasses are fine as long as the label says “100% UVA/UVB protection.” He said even on semi-cloudy days they should wear them, because the rays that can come through and give you a surprise burn on a cloudy-ish day can do the same thing to your eyes.*

Seems a bit extreme to me, but maybe not. What say ye, Dopers?

2

Just for the record, I run a sunglass store. I’m not an opthalmologist, optometrist, or even an optician.

The eyes of infants and children absorb UV more readily than adult eyes, meaning that most of the damage your kids will do to their eyes by not wearing sunglasses will be done before they’re about 20.

IOW, yes, your children should wear sunglasses when they’re outdoors. If they’re in a car, no big deal, as auto glass blocks virtually all UV.

It doesn’t have to be a good pair. Preferably, pick a pair that isn’t distorted by looking through them yourself. Basically anything you find at a reputable vendor carrying a UV sticker will work. The lenses in a pair of cheapos will be polycarbonate, CR-39, or acrylic.

Polycarbonate is best- it’s nearly impossible to shatter, and thus provides some impact protection as well as UV protection. CR-39 is also good. Acrylic is bad. It flakes, cracks, and is likely to distort any object less than three feet away.

The tint doesn’t really matter either. Even a clear polycarbonate lens will still block 100% of UV. It’s the material itself that does the work, not the coating or tint. The tint alters the transmission of visible light, not UV.

In my experience, children tend to prefer (or at least will wear) lighter lenses more readily than darker ones. Try to avoid wire frames, too: they’re less comfortable and more breakable.

If you’re not comfortable putting your kids in questionable off-brand glasses, Ray-Ban (Luxottica) offers a good line of Junior frames. There are a couple of kiddie-sized Oakleys, too.

3

I’m 47, and the last time I visited my optician I was told that as well. It’s not serious; I’m certainly not going blind. I wouldn’t even have suspected it if I hadn’t been told. Even if I were losing my sight, removing cataracts is a routine operation with near-zero risk, and it could well be another ten or twenty years before it comes to that, if ever. And to prevent this minor inconvenience I should have been forced to wear sunglasses (which I would have hated) throughout my childhood? No thanks. Medical conditions are part of getting older. I’d say live with it.

4

I have worn glasses most of my life, and sunglasses as well (my eyes are more light-sensitive than average). My eye doc says there isn’t a trace of cataracts in either eye at 40+ years.

So take that for what you will.

5

I was born with cataracts.

Clearly it’s my mother’s fault for not wearing sunglasses while she was pregnant.

:cool:

6

On the bright side, Elendil’s Heir as surgeries go, the cataract operation is a piece of cake, as almost everyone who has had one (or two) will tell you.

The biggest pain in the butt? Pre- and Pos-op drops and stuff.

7

You live in Cleveland. Do you really think too much sun is a big problem around here? :wink:

8

The hole in the ozone layer is over Antarctica, so unless your sister is a penguin, I doubt that is a contributing factor.

9

The doctor had it right, but didn’t express it well. It’s true that “the ozone hole” is over Antartica, but recent studies have indicated increasing UV due to a weakening of ozone in temperate climates as well:

*Two scientists now present compelling evidence for an increase in UV-B exposure during a recent four-year period in Canada. Using highly sensitive and calibrated instruments, they measured daily UV-B exposure at a single site in Toronto from 1989 to 1993. To distinguish between the UV-B blocking effects of ozone and the “non-specific” UV-B blocking effects of clouds, haze and pollutants, the investigators measured UV-B intensity at each of its component wavelengths. Ozone blocks UV-B radiation at 300 nm but not at 325 nm, whereas clouds, haze, and pollutants block UV-B radiation at both wavelengths.

The intensity of UV-B at 300 nm increased by 35% per year in the winter and 7% per year in the summer. There was no change in intensity of UV-B at 325 nm, demonstrating that the increase in UV-B at 300 nm was consistent with a loss of ozone. During the same period ozone concentrations over Toronto decreased by 4% per year in winter and by 1.8% per year in summer.* Cite

10

The fact is, pretty much everyone is going to get cataracts if you live long enough. Your eyes get old and light isn’t able to pass though the lens. Imagine an onion that’s dried out and the end is sliced off and the lens replaced.

What I’ve always wondered is if it’s such a bad thing to have the surgery done when your younger (late 50’s & 60’s), as opposed to when your in your 70’s or 80’s?

By the time lots of people are in their 80’s they have health issues and are on so many medications that it makes it difficult sometimes to heal properly and people don’t always have the greatest results. That’s what I’ve heard from people who have had cateract surgery. They had better results with the first eye (they never do them together) than the second eye when they were older.

I’m not a doctor or anything, but it’s something I’ve wondered about. I definitely think everyone should wear sunglasses, even kids. If you develop cateracts in your 40’s there’s a possiblility that you could have to have them done again.

11

I heard that the younger you are when you have cataract surgery, the higher the risk of having detached retinas later on.

12

El Linkamundo.

Retinal detachment can occur more frequently after surgery for cataracts. The estimate of risk of retinal detachment after cataract surgery is 5 to 16 per 1000 cataract operations.[5]. The risk may be much higher in those who are highly myopic, with a frequency of 7% reported in one study [6]. Young age at cataract removal further increased risk in this study.

13

What better use for the :cool: smiley? Ahhh, :cool:, the smiley-poor board’s happy orthodox smiley. RIP, happy orthodox jewish man.

:::::Mr Happy Jewish Orthodox Max…making SDMB laugh…yeah!::::::

14

I read that and didn’t quite understand it. Are they saying that highly myopic patients that develop cateracts at a young age are more likely to risk a retinal detachment, or young people in general.

I always assumed that the reason people that developed cateracts at a young age was different than an older patient.

15

Young + cataract surgery = higher risk for retinal detachment is consistent with what I’ve heard and seen.

16

I don’t understand the last sentence here. If you’re suggesting you might need cataract surgery in the same eye twice in a lifetime, the artificial lenses don’t have the same problem with cataract development that our natural lenses do.

17

Highly myopic patients at any age are at higher risk of retinal detachment than non-highly-myopic people.

Another factor is that the texture/hardness/other qualities of the lens change with age. Younger lenses are physically more difficult to remove than older lenses. A more difficult/longer operation also tends to increase the risk of complications.

18

Sorry that came out wrong. When I worked in an opthamologists office, I remember people having the lens replaced. It could have been a bad result from the first surgery? Better lens?