AN electrician has been literally left seeing stars after suffering an electric shock that caused star-shaped cataracts to develop in his eyes.

The incident, reported by Livescience and written up in the New England Journal of Medicine and describes the case of the 42-year-old man whose shoulder came into contact with 14,000 volts of electricity which zapped through his body and into his optic nerve.

Four weeks after the accident the man complained of vision problems and Dr Bobby Korn, who treated the patient, noticed "striking cataracts in both of his eyes".

They took on a bizarre star pattern that spread across the whole lens of his eyes.

The reason why cataracts can sometimes take on a star shape is unknown according to Korn. However, in cases where animal eyes have been damaged by electricity, the damage first appears as small bubbles which then coalesce to form a star.

The man has had surgery to remove his star-stamped lenses but still suffers from poor vision due to damage to his optic nerve.

Korn explained the eye is like a camera: if the lens is damaged, it can be replaced with a new one, but if the "film" - in this case, the optic nerve and retina - is damaged, "then you'll never get a good picture."