Abstract
Diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (DM) is made in some persons in the Ophthalmology clinic when they present with eye complaints. Cataract is a common DM ocular complication in clinical practice. The objective of this report is to draw attention to cataract which is usually seen in older persons but which could be the first manifestation of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in children and adolescents. We report this first case of a teenage Nigerian girl with a diagnosis of bilateral cataract presenting as the first manifestation of type 1 diabetes. She was later referred to the endocrinologists because of severe hyperglycaemia. She was treated to achieve a good glycaemic control and had a successful surgery (cataract extraction) in both eyes. She is being followed up in both the Ophthalmology and Diabetes clinics. In conclusion, all patients presenting with cataracts irrespective of their ages must be screened for diabetes mellitus so that proactive measures can be put in place to prevent and manage other chronic complications of DM affecting the eyes and other organs. Conversely, all T1DM patients should be screened for cataract soon after diagnosis.
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