cataract (unilateral)

Last reviewed 01/2018

Unilateral cataracts occur in only one eye. In general the symptoms are the same, but the presentation may be different and there are additional problems. Features are as follows:

• apparent sudden loss of vision after covering the good eye
• gradual loss of vision following trauma. Sometimes this may have seemed trivial at the time for example something flying into the eye, but there may be an intraocular foreign body.
• the blurred vision and dazzling may interfere with the good eye
• loss of stereopsis - difficult to judge distances
• squint - this can occur if there was a pre-existing latent deviation.