Refractive change in pediatric pseudophakia: 6-year follow-up.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the long-term evolution of refractive error changes in eyes of children who have primary intraocular lens (IOL) implantation to allow more accurate prediction of what IOL power should be implanted at a given age.


METHODS
Department of Ophthalmology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.


METHODS
This study comprised all children between 2 and 15 years of age who had posterior chamber IOL implantation and who were followed for a minimum of 4 years postoperatively. Thirty-eight eyes of 27 patients with a mean follow-up of 6.1 years were evaluated. All refractions were performed manually by an experienced pediatric ophthalmologist.


RESULTS
Children operated on at age 2 or 3 years had a mean myopic shift of 4.60 diopters (D) (range 0.50 to 10.75 D) over a mean of 5.8 years postoperatively. Children operated on at age 6 or 7 years had a mean myopic shift of 2.68 D (range 0.50 to 6.60 D) over a mean of 5.3 years. Children operated on at age 8 or 9 years had a mean myopic shift of 1.25 D (range -0.75 to 2.60 D) over a mean of 6.8 years. Patients operated on between ages 10 and 15 years had a mean shift of 0.61 D (range 0 to 1.90 D) over a mean of 5.7 years.


CONCLUSIONS
The mean rate of myopic shift decreased throughout childhood, and the range of shift among individuals narrowed as patient age increased. However, the ability to predict future myopic shift for a given individual remains difficult, especially in younger patients.
Plager
David A
DA
Department of Ophthalmology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. dplager@iupui.edu
Kipfer
Hal
H
Sprunger
Derek T
DT
Sondhi
Naval
N
Neely
Daniel E
DE
D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D002387:Cataract Extraction; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D007910:Lenses, Intraocular; D009216:Myopia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019591:Pseudophakia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012029:Refraction, Ocular; D014792:Visual Acuity