WHAT IS IT? A Christmas tree cataract

A 73-year-old man who was losing his vision was found to have “sparkling” crystals in his eye lens. Sparkling cataract opacities (also known as Christmas tree cataracts) have been described as “glittering”, “multi-coloured” and “of polychromatic lustre”. The crystals may be due to cholesterol or abnormal proteins. The outlook is the same as for other types of cataracts. However, a sparkling cataract may indicate the presence of other conditions – for example, chronic liver and kidney disease. In this case the patient had a history of chronic cirrhosis.