In the new Netflix series All the Light We Cannot See, a blind French girl called Marie-Laure LeBlanc makes illicit radio broadcasts from her uncle’s house in Nazi-occupied France. We are told that Marie-Laure has congenital cataracts in both eyes. But what is this condition?
The word “cataract” comes from the Latin word for waterfall and describes a condition where the usually transparent lens of the eye is cloudy or opaque. This prevents a clear image being projected onto the back of the eye and causes poor vision.
Many people will have heard of cataracts in the context of older adults because the lens becomes cloudier throughout life, slowly causing blurry vision. Surgery to remove the cloudy lens and replace it with a clear plastic one is commonplace and quite routine nowadays. In fact, cataract surgery in adults is one of the most common operations performed in healthcare systems across the world.
