Star-Shaped Cataract Appears In Eye Of Austrian Man Months After Punch: Report

Some people have stars in their eyes, but not like a 55-year-old man in Austria, who actually developed a cataract in his eye in the shape of a star.

The patient initially saw a doctor because his vision deteriorated after being punched in the eye nine months earlier.

Doctors took a close look and discovered the he'd developed a multi-pointed cataract in the punched peeper, NBCNews.com reported.

Cataracts commonly form in eyes that have taken a hit from, say, a ball or a fist. The blow sends shock waves through the eye that change the lens and may cause some areas to become opaque, MyHealthNews Daily reported.

But this particular cataract was something rarely seen by ophthalmologists like Dr. Mark Fromer, eye surgeon for the New York Rangers hockey team.

"Nature has made a beautiful cataract," Fromer said, according to Discovery.com. "Most aren't so pretty,"

Doctors in Austria removed the star-shaped cataract via "phacoemulsification," a procedure that uses sound waves to break up the opaque part of the lens, before removing it with a vacuum. The lens is then replaced with an artificial one, FoxNews.com reported.