Cataract: current concepts, signs and symptomatology--part I.

One of the most commonly encountered pathologies in all settings of optometric practice is cataract. The cataract patient generally has many misconceptions concerning his visual status and the difficulty of the situation is compounded by the astronomical amount of material, often outdated, which exists on the subject. This paper is the first of a two-part series presented with the purpose of providing the optometrist with an overview of lens structure, cataract formation, classification, and clinical implications. Part I is comprised of a discussion of lens architecture, the physiology of cataract formation and a classification (with illustrations) of the more commonly encountered cataract types.