Practice patterns in pediatric cataract management: Time for real world data

Pediatric cataracts are responsible for more than 1 million childhood blindness in Asia. In developing countries like India, 7.4%–15.3% of childhood blindness is due to cataract.[1] The socioeconomic status of a large proportion of children with cataracts in India precludes reliable rehabilitation with contact lenses for aphakia. It is noteworthy that the Infant Aphakia Treatment Study (IATS)[2,3] compared the best correction (contact lens) with pseudophakia and not aphakic spectacle correction with pseudophakia. Quoting the IATS as a reason not to implant under the age of 2 years becomes less relevant. A true comparison for real world evidence (RWE)[4] in India would be to compare unilateral intraocular lens (IOL) to unilateral aphakic correction.