The social construction of paediatric cataract: how parents make sense of their child’s condition

IntroductionChildhood cataract, congenital and traumatic, is the most common treatable cause of childhood blindness, being responsible for 10 to 30 per cent of all childhood blindness. Preventing blindness from childhood cataract requires not only high-quality paediatric surgery, but also an awareness of parents’ understanding of the eye problem, and why they might not agree to surgery for their child. Several studies have examined the medical and social aspects of childhood cataract. Foster et al.1 point out that childhood blindness has huge socio-economic costs, and restoring the sight of one child blind from cataract is considered equivalent to restoring the sight of 10 elderly adults. It is therefore crucial that we understand why parents might not take up the option of surgery