Cataract by electrocution

Resumen

Objective: Electrical burns generate a special type of injury the longer a person is exposed to electricity, the worse the injuries will be. Cataracts resulting from this mechanism are of low frequency, because of that our purpose is to present a cataracts case by electrocution.
Case report: A 22-year-old male patient, from a rural area, a gardener by profession, with a history of electrocution with loss of consciousness for approximately 2 hours, was hospitalized and placed under surveillance for 1 month. His vision worsened over time, which led him to the ophthalmology consultation, 4 months after. A cataract was detected in his right eye. Phacoemulsification was performed with trypan blue capsular staining prior to capsulorhexis and implantation of a foldable intraocular lens (IOL) in a capsular bag, without complications. On the 5th postoperative day of the right eye, a transparent corneal, slight inflammation, IOL in the capsular bag, a 20/20 visual acuity without correction was observed.
Conclusion: The formation of cataracts secondary to electrocution is possible, because of that as soon as the patient is stable should have a complete routine ophthalmology evaluation. Generally, these cases, without previous affections is considered to have a good visual prognosis, as was described in this work.