I have noticed a lot of my insulinoma patients have cataracts.  I first
thought this was from pred.  (Yes, unfortunately pred can cause cataracts,
but it is rare.  The same problem with the human nasal steroids for
allergies ie. nasonex, flonase, etc.)  Then I noticed some with cataracts
before pred and most of the ones that are on pred develop cataracts late
in the disease when pred is no longer doing a good job controlling the
hypoglycemia.
 
I talked to Dr Annajane Marlar about this.  She is a board certified
ophthalmologist here in Dallas.  She did her residency at the U of
Wisconsin and was one of the authors of the article: Cataracts in a
laboratory colony of ferrets.  (The colony was there at the University
and the problem was from the diet.)  Anyways she said that hypoglycemia
can cause cataracts just like hyperglycemia (diabetes) can cause them.
She also had the chance to do some cataract surgeries on the ferrets
there at U of Wisconsin.
 
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3526]