myasthenia gravis and cataracts

[Shannon974]

I have occular myasthenia gravis, it has never become systemic over a ten year period and my doctors, both neurology and eye, don't believe it ever will.  Today, I found out that I have developed cataracts in both eyes, but much worse in my right eye, the one the myasthenia gravis affects.  I have been told that since my vision is greatly improved with new glasses, my distance vision had gotten very bad, that to have cataract surgery could make the double vision, I deal with from the myestenia, much worse.  Is this your experience?  I have an appointment now scheduled in three weeks to see a neurological ophthalmologist, I assume, to confirm and or further explore this diagnosis.  What do you think on this opinion?  When the cataracts get worse, I will have to have them removed anyway and would like to know if the double vision worsening is likely or not.

Thank you

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Thank you for your question. Although without being able to examine you I can not offer you the specific advice on diagnosis and treatment that you need, but I would try to provide you some relevant information about your health concern.

The most common symptom of Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is progressive muscle weakness that gets worse with your exercises & activities. Therefore, your cataract is unlikely to be related to MG as cataract occurs due to eye lens changes due to a lot of factors and cause gradual reduction in vision, seeing halos around lights or seeing things double with the eyes and susceptibility to bright lights and glare. However, MG can aggravates symptoms due to eye muscle weakness (drooping). Since cataract is quite common condition and quite successfully treated, therefore I would suggest that you discuss this with your doctor, who can examine your eye and refer you to an ophthalmologist for a second opinion. Hope this helps.