Zonular cataract

What it means

Zonular cataracts are defined to be cataracts that affect specific regions of the lens.

Zonular cataracts include specific regions of the lens and include nuclear cataracts, which affect the fetal or embryonic lens nucleus and lamellar cataracts. These tend to affect lens fibers that are formed at the same time, resulting in a shell like opacity. Zonular cataracts can also be characterized as dense or pulverulent (dusty appearing), and can be accompanied by arcuate opacities extending into the lens cortex, called cortical riders.

Rare diseases that can present with this1

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category