Ultrastructure of posterior subcapsular cataract in human lens.

In 20 eyes with posterior subcapsular cataract, ultrastructural changes were observed in the capsule and the subcapsular cortex. In 13 eyes, lens fibers of the subcapsular cortex were markedly swollen and liquefied, and contained granules of various sizes. In 4 eyes, various vacuoles or wide separations of the cell membrane were seen. In 3 eyes, the lens fibers became narrow and showed high electron density. The structure of human posterior subcapsular cataract affects the operation for posterior subcapsular cataract. In 1 case of posterior subcapsular cataract, a lamellar structure containing fine fibrils was observed in the deep layer of the posterior capsule and the epithelial cells which had a long nucleus and poor cytoplasm were scattered just under the posterior capsule. It is considered that these changes in the cells indicated a reduction of cellular function.