2026 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code Q12.0Congenital cataract

ICD-10-CM Codes›Q00-Q99›Q10-Q18›Q12

ICD-10-CM Q12.0
CMSSource: CMS FY 2026 ICD-10-CM dataset · Effective Oct 1, 2025 – Sep 30, 2026

Q12.0 is a billable ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for congenital cataract. It is valid on HIPAA claims for fiscal year 2026 (October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026) and groups to MS-DRG 124 through 125. The code is exempt from POA reporting. In AHRQ's Clinical Classifications Software (CCSR), this diagnosis falls under Congenital malformations of eye, ear, face, neck.

Code Identity

ICD-10-CM Code
Q12.0
Billable Status
Yes — Valid for Submission
Code Describes
Congenital cataract
Short Description
Congenital cataract
Same as the full description in the CMS dataset.
Parent Code
Q12
Congenital lens malformations

Code Classification

ChapterQ00-Q99Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities
SectionQ10-Q18Congenital malformations of eye, ear, face and neck
CategoryQ12Congenital lens malformations
This CodeQ12.0Congenital cataract

Present on Admission (POA)Billing

Q12.0 is exempt from POA reporting on inpatient claims to general acute care hospitals. Review other POA exempt codes.

Approximate SynonymsGuidance

Alternate terms and clinical phrases that map to this code.

  • Absence deformity of leg and congenital cataract syndrome
  • Anal atresia
  • Anterior subcapsular cataract of bilateral eyes
  • Anterior subcapsular cataract of left eye
  • Anterior subcapsular cataract of right eye
  • Anterior subcapsular polar cataract of left eye
  • Anterior subcapsular polar cataract of right eye
  • Bilateral anterior subcapsular polar cataract
  • Bilateral congenital anterior subcapsular polar cataracts
  • Bilateral congenital capsular cataracts
  • Bilateral congenital cataract of eyes
  • Bilateral congenital combined form cataract of eyes
  • Bilateral congenital cortical cataract of eyes
  • Bilateral congenital nuclear cataracts of eyes
  • Bilateral congenital posterior subcapsular polar cataracts of eyes
  • Bilateral congenital zonular cataract
  • Bilateral posterior subcapsular cataract
  • Cataract and microcornea syndrome
  • Cataract glaucoma syndrome
  • Cataract of lens capsule of bilateral eyes
  • Cataract, congenital heart disease, neural tube defect syndrome
  • Congenital anterior polar cataract
  • Congenital anterior subcapsular polar cataract
  • Congenital anterior subcapsular polar cataract of left eye
  • Congenital anterior subcapsular polar cataract of right eye
  • Congenital blue dot cataract
  • Congenital capsular cataract
  • Congenital cataract
  • Congenital cataract ichthyosis syndrome
  • Congenital cataract microcornea with corneal opacity
  • Congenital cataract of left eye
  • Congenital cataract of right eye
  • Congenital cataract with ataxia and deafness syndrome
  • Congenital cataract with deafness and hypogonadism syndrome
  • Congenital cataract with hypertrichosis and intellectual disability syndrome
  • Congenital cataract, hearing loss, severe developmental delay syndrome
  • Congenital cataract, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, mitochondrial myopathy syndrome
  • Congenital cataract, progressive muscular hypotonia, hearing loss, developmental delay syndrome
  • Congenital cataract, severe neonatal hepatopathy, global developmental delay syndrome
  • Congenital cataracts, facial dysmorphism and neuropathy
  • Congenital coloboma of bilateral irides
  • Congenital coloboma of iris
  • Congenital coloboma of iris of left eye
  • Congenital coloboma of iris of right eye
  • Congenital combined form cataract
  • Congenital cortical cataract
  • Congenital cortical cataract of left eye
  • Congenital cortical cataract of right eye
  • Congenital endocardial fibroelastosis
  • Congenital glaucoma of bilateral eyes
  • Congenital glaucoma of left eye
  • Congenital glaucoma of right eye
  • Congenital lamellar cataract
  • Congenital malformation of anterior pituitary
  • Congenital membranous cataract
  • Congenital nuclear cataract of left eye
  • Congenital nuclear cataract of right eye
  • Congenital polar cataract
  • Congenital porencephaly
  • Congenital posterior polar cataract
  • Congenital posterior subcapsular polar cataract
  • Congenital posterior subcapsular polar cataract of left eye
  • Congenital posterior subcapsular polar cataract of right eye
  • Congenital subcapsular cataract
  • Congenital sutural cataract
  • Congenital total cataract
  • Congenital zonular cataract
  • Congenital zonular cataract of left eye
  • Congenital zonular cataract of right eye
  • Coralliform cataract
  • Cortical and zonular cataract
  • Crome syndrome
  • Dandy-Walker syndrome
  • Disorder of cholesterol metabolism
  • Disorder of cholesterol synthesis
  • Distal spinal muscular atrophy
  • EDICT syndrome
  • Embryonal nuclear cataract
  • Endocardial fibroelastosis
  • Familial progressive retinal dystrophy, iris coloboma, congenital cataract syndrome
  • Hutterite type cataract
  • Hydrocephalus with endocardial fibroelastosis and cataract syndrome
  • Hypergonadotropic hypogonadism with cataract syndrome
  • Hypertrophic mitochondrial cardiomyopathy
  • Hypomyelination and congenital cataract
  • Inborn error of lipoprotein metabolism
  • Intellectual disability, cataract, calcified pinna, myopathy syndrome
  • ITPA-related lethal infantile neurological disorder with cataract and cardiac involvement
  • Karandikar Maria Kamble syndrome
  • Left congenital capsular cataract
  • Left congenital combined form cataract
  • Left ventricular myocardial noncompaction cardiomyopathy
  • Lethal left ventricular non-compaction, seizures, hypotonia, cataract, developmental delay syndrome
  • Martsolf syndrome
  • Mature cataract
  • Microcephaly, congenital cataract, psoriasiform dermatitis syndrome
  • Microcornea
  • Nathalie syndrome
  • Nuclear cataract
  • Osteogenesis imperfecta, perinatal lethal
  • Osteogenesis imperfecta, recessive perinatal lethal, with microcephaly AND cataracts
  • Pinnal calcification
  • Porencephaly, microcephaly, bilateral congenital cataract syndrome
  • Posterior subcapsular cataract of left eye
  • Posterior subcapsular cataract of right eye
  • Posterior subcapsular polar cataract
  • Psoriasiform dermatitis
  • Pulverulent cataract
  • Punctate cataract
  • RAB18 deficiency
  • Right congenital capsular cataract
  • Right congenital combined form cataract
  • Spastic paraparesis, cataracts, speech delay syndrome
  • Spinal muscular atrophy, Dandy-Walker malformation, cataract syndrome
  • Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, craniosynostosis, cleft palate, cataract and intellectual disability syndrome
  • Ventricular myocardial noncompaction cardiomyopathy
  • Wellesley Carman French syndrome

Index to Diseases and InjuriesGuidance

Alphabetical index entries that point to this code.

External Cause of Injuries IndexGuidance

References for this code in the External Cause of Injuries Index.

    • Blue
      • dot cataract
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • anterior
        • and posterior axial embryonal
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • anterior
        • pyramidal
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • blue
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • central
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • cerulean
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • congenital
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • coraliform
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • coronary
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • crystalline
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • nuclear
        • embryonal
    • Cataract(cortical) (immature) (incipient)
      • zonular (perinuclear)
    • Cataracta
      • centralis pulverulenta
    • Cataracta
      • cerulea
    • Cataracta
      • congenita
    • Cataracta
      • coralliformis
    • Cataracta
      • coronaria
    • Cataracta
      • membranacea
        • congenita

Clinical ClassificationClinical

AHRQ’s CCSR groups this code into broader clinical categories.

CCSR MAL005
Congenital malformations of eye, ear, face, neck
Default principal diagnosis: inpatient Yes · outpatient Yes

Clinical InformationClinical

  • Endocardial Fibroelastosis

    a condition characterized by the thickening of endocardium due to proliferation of fibrous and elastic tissue, usually in the left ventricle leading to impaired cardiac function (cardiomyopathy, restrictive). it is most commonly seen in young children and rarely in adults. it is often associated with congenital heart anomalies (heart defects congenital;) infection; or gene mutation. defects in the tafazzin protein, encoded by taz gene, result in a form of autosomal dominant familial endocardial fibroelastosis.

  • Congenital Cataract

    cataract that is present at birth.

  • Microcornea

    a congenital abnormality characterized by an abnormally small cornea. the horizontal corneal diameter is less than 10mm or less than 9mm in newborns. it is associated with an increased risk of glaucoma.

  • Psoriasiform Dermatitis

    a chronic, sporadic, acquired pruritic non-infectious skin condition characterized by one or more well defined inflamed (pink or red) patches or plaques of varying size.

  • Endocardial Fibroelastosis

    a rare disorder characterized by diffuse thickening of the endocardium. it presents with unexplained heart failure.

  • TAFAZZIN wt Allele|BTHS|Barth Syndrome Gene|CMD3A|Cardiomyopathy, Dilated 3A (X-Linked) Gene|EFE|EFE2|Endocardial Fibroelastosis 2 Gene|G4.5|LVNCX|TAZ|TAZ1|Tafazzin, Phospholipid-Lysophospholipid Transacylase wt Allele|Taz1

    human tafazzin wild-type allele is located in the vicinity of xq28 and is approximately 10 kb in length. this allele, which encodes tafazzin protein, plays a role in phospholipid metabolism, including cardiolipin remodeling. mutations in the gene are associated with barth syndrome, dilated cardiomyopathy (dcm), hypertrophic dcm, endocardial fibroelastosis and left ventricular noncompaction.

Patient EducationClinical

Birth Defects

A birth defect is a problem that happens while a baby is developing in the mother's body. Most birth defects happen during the first 3 months of pregnancy. One out of every 33 babies in the United States is born with a birth defect.

The full article covers:

  • What are birth defects?
  • What causes birth defects?
  • Who is at risk of having a baby with birth defects?
  • How are birth defects diagnosed?
  • What are the treatments for birth defects?
  • Can birth defects be prevented?

Read the full article at MedlinePlus

Courtesy of MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Convert Q12.0 to ICD-9-CMHistory

The closest ICD-9-CM equivalents under the General Equivalence Mappings.

ICD-9-CM
743.30 Congenital cataract NOS
Approximate The match is approximate rather than exact.

Code HistoryHistory

FY 2016AddedAdded to the ICD-10-CM code setEffective October 1, 2015, the first year of ICD-10-CM.
FY 2017–2025No changes
FY 2026CurrentCurrent code set, no changesEffective October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026.

Questions About Q12.0Overview

Is Q12.0 (Congenital lens malformations) a billable code?

Yes. This is a billable ICD-10-CM code, specific enough to report congenital cataract on HIPAA-covered claims from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026.

What MS-DRG does Q12.0 group to?

When congenital cataract is the principal diagnosis on an inpatient stay, it groups to MS-DRG 124, 125, with relative weights from 0.7678 to 1.3231 depending on complications. Higher weights mean higher Medicare reimbursement.

Is Q12.0 exempt from POA reporting?

Yes. CMS lists this code among those exempt from present on admission reporting, so hospitals do not assign a POA indicator for congenital cataract on inpatient claims.

What is the ICD-9 equivalent of Q12.0?

Under the General Equivalence Mappings, congenital cataract converts to ICD-9-CM 743.30 (congenital cataract NOS). The mapping is approximate, so confirm the match fits the documentation.

Footnotes

[1] Chronic - a chronic condition code indicates a condition lasting 12 months or longer and its effect on the patient based on one or both of the following criteria:

  • The condition results in the need for ongoing intervention with medical products,treatment, services, and special equipment
  • The condition places limitations on self-care, independent living, and social interactions.