Alcohol and Cataract

After some skepticism and a hiatus of two decades, articles are now beginning to appear confirming the linkage of alcohol consumption with cataract, particularly posterior subcapsular cataract.^1,2This association was reported by Sabiston³and me⁴independently. A patient in his or her 40s or 50s who appears with a posterior subcapsular cataract should be investigated for alcoholism. In abusive alcoholics, some of these posterior subcapsular cataracts may progress rapidly to maturity in only a few months. In my practice, about 25% of patients younger than age 65 years who present with cataract are found to be alcoholic on careful investigation. Some are successful business people whose alcohol ingestion is social but, nonetheless, significant. It has been my experience that if the opacities are incipient and if the consumption of alcohol is stopped completely, the posterior subcapsular changes may reverse and even disappear.