{"id":371151,"date":"2025-12-26T12:17:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T12:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/371151\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T12:17:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T12:17:16","slug":"this-rare-condition-makes-your-eyes-sparkle-like-a-christmas-tree-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/371151\/","title":{"rendered":"This Rare Condition Makes Your Eyes Sparkle Like a Christmas Tree : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saint Nicholas is said to have a twinkle in his eye<\/a>, but there’s a real health condition that creates a similar effect in patients: the aptly named ‘Christmas tree cataracts’.<\/p>\n

Christmas tree cataracts are a rare age-related condition, often taking optometrists by surprise<\/a> when they encounter the glistening, multicolored crystals suspended in the lens of a patient’s eye, lit up by direct focal illumination.<\/p>\n

Related: Why Blue Eyes Aren’t Really Blue (And What Makes Green So Rare)<\/a><\/p>\n

One case study<\/a> describes the dazzling effect these cataracts produce as “a spectacular array of polychromatic needle-shaped crystals\u2026 giving the appearance of colored lights decorating the branches as on a Christmas tree”.<\/p>\n

\"collageSlit-lamp examination (A, C, D) and retroillumination (B) of a Christmas tree cataract showing polychromatic crystals of pink, green, blue, red, and gold within the substance of the crystalline lens. (Rao & Choudhry, Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology<\/a>, 2016)<\/p>\n

This ‘Christmas tree’ sparkle forms when calcium builds up<\/a> in the lens, speeding up the disintegration of crystallin proteins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The protein breakdown leads to an excess of cystine<\/a>, an amino acid that, at high concentrations, crystallizes to form the needle-like shards.<\/p>\n

These refract the optometrist’s light, producing a variety of colors, including pink, green, blue, red, and gold, depending on the angle of the light source.<\/p>\n

\"EyesDirect focal illumination of a 60-year-old woman’s eye shows multiple polychromatic needle-shaped crystals traversing all directions, cutting across the natural limits of the lens fibers. (Goel, Saudi Journal of Ophthalmology<\/a>, 2016)<\/p>\n

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The condition doesn’t often impact patients’ visual acuity, but it is associated with myotonic dystrophy<\/a>, a genetic disorder that causes muscular dystrophy.<\/p>\n

Some studies<\/a> have found Christmas tree cataracts in nearly all patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1, which suggests it could be a useful way of spotting the degenerative disease in its early stages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saint Nicholas is said to have a twinkle in his eye, but there’s a real health condition that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97,1352],"class_list":["post-371151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-msft-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}