Star-shaped cataracts developed in an electrician's eyes after he was blasted by 14,000 volts of electricity through his left shoulder.

An electric current passed through his body, including the optic nerve which connects the back of the eye to the brain, a report in the latest edition of The New England Journal of Medicine said.

The electrician's star-shaped cataracts.

The cataracts came to medical attention when the 42-year-old man visited an eye clinic four weeks after the accident. The vision in both his eyes had become limited to perception of hand motions.

Four months after the accident the man had surgery to remove the cataracts and implant a new lens.