Pseudoexfoliation increases risk for glaucoma damage, cataract surgery challenges

Pseudoexfoliation is a systemic disease, not just an ocular finding, being present in many organs outside the eye, including the heart, kidneys, liver and brain. It was first described as exfoliation of the lens capsule by John Lindberg of Finland in 1917. Several decades later, the famous pathologist Dr. Georgiana Dvorak Theobald changed the name to pseudoexfoliation to distinguish it from the true exfoliation of the lens capsule that occurs in glass blowers who do not wear protective shields. It occurs more frequently in women than in men, is more common in those older than 70 years, and has a genetic, age-related and likely environmental basis.The LOXL1 gene is nearly always present, but many patients with this gene do not manifest the disease. Further evidence of a genetic basis is the finding that it is more frequent in certain populations, including those of Scandinavian descent (25.9 per 100,000 in my state of Minnesota) and also unexpectedly very common in the Bantu population, which again suggests a genetic basis in an inbred population that cannot be explained by age, environment, race or diet alone.