Cataract surgery in pediatric uveitis

Abstract

Uveitis in children is associated with several sight-threatening ocular complications, including the formation of cataracts. The surgical management of uveitic cataracts in children is both challenging and controversial and, unlike in adult uveitic cataracts, surgery has historically been associated with poor visual outcomes. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis in particular poses unique therapeutic challenges and the issue of correction of aphakia in these patients remains a contentious one. The growing use of immunotherapies and, where needed, targeted biologic agents in childhood uveitis increases our potential to implant lenses and predict outcomes. The authors review the available evidence base for the treatment of these children.