Elsching pearls are seen in

After cataract: It is also known as 'secondary cataract'. It is the opacity which persists or develops after extracapsular lens extraction.Causes. (i) Residual opaque lens matter may persist as after cataract when it is imprisoned between the remains of the anterior and posterior capsule, surrounded by fibrin (following iritis) or blood(the following hyphaema). (ii) Proliferative type of after cataract may develop from the left-out anterior epithelial cells. The proliferative hyaline bands may sweep across the whole posterior capsule.Clinical types. After cataract may present as a thickened posterior capsule, or dense membranous after cataract or Soemmering's ring which refers to a thick ring of after cataract formed behind the iris, enclosed between the two layers of the capsule or Elschnig's pearls in which the vacuolated subcapsular epithelial cells are clustered like soap bubbles along the posterior capsule.Treatment is as follows :i. Thin membranous after cataract and thickened posterior capsule are best treated by YAG-laser capsulotomy or desiccation with cystitome or Zeigler&;s knife.ii. Dense membranous after cataract needs surgical membranectomy.iii. Soemmering's ring after cataract with clean central posterior capsule needs no treatment.iv. Elschnig's pearls involving the central pa of the posterior capsule can be treated by YAG laser capsulotomy or desiccation with cystitome.Ref: Khurana; 4th edition; Pg. 201