Silver lining in the dark clouds: Sinking cortex sign

Abstract

A 40 years old male reported with gross diminution of vision right eye for 6 months. He gave a history of trauma to the right eye at the age of 10 years with a broomstick. On examination his vision as 1/60. Careful slit lamp examination revealed a small linear leucomatous grade mature white cataract with intact anterior capsule and “sinking cortex” sign. Patient underwent pars plana lens extraction and multipiece intraocular lens placement by a vitreo-retinal surgeon. Post operatively the vision recovered to 6/6. This clinical image highlights the importance of meticulous slit lamp examination in mature cataracts for signs like sinking cortex sign and also reports the incidence of late onset post traumatic cataract after 30 years of initial injury.

Keywords

• mature cataract
• posterior capsular defect
• sinking cortex sign
• trauma