Polychromasia capsulare (multicolored capsule): report of three families.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the familial occurrence of a peripheral ring of anterior lens capsule discoloration and iridescence in three families.


METHODS
Clinical ophthalmologic examination with visual acuity, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, and dilated ophthalmoscopy. Pedigree construction and evaluation for possible mode(s) of inheritance.


RESULTS
In family 1, 25 members from four generations were available for examination. Twelve had identical findings consisting of a peripheral circumferential polychromatic band of anterior lens capsule. The band was predominantly iridescent green but exhibited a rainbow of colors on direct illumination with the slit-lamp beam. There were affected individuals in all four generations. The proband, one of her sons, and her granddaughter had no clinical, serologic, or other laboratory evidence of Wilson's disease, hypercupremia, or myotonic dystrophy. In family 2, three individuals in three generations were similarly affected. In family 3, a man and his son and daughter had identical peripheral lens capsule discoloration.


CONCLUSIONS
Polychromasia capsulare is a rare benign autosomal dominant ocular trait that does not appear to be associated with ophthalmologic or systemic disease. The occurrence in consecutive generations and the presence of male-to-male transmission are consistent with autosomal dominant inheritance.
Traboulsi
Elias I
EI
Center for Genetic Eye Diseases, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Chung
Daniel
D
Koors
John M
JM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003116:Color; D005260:Female; D005799:Genes, Dominant; D006801:Humans; D007903:Lens Capsule, Crystalline / Q000473:pathology*; D007905:Lens Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009887:Ophthalmoscopy; D010375:Pedigree