Accepted 24 January 2007. published online 28 February 2007.
Purpose
To study the prevalence of astigmatism in patients with epiblepharon and keratopathy and to determine if astigmatism was influenced by surgical correction.
Design
This is a retrospective review of 182 eyes of 91 patients who were diagnosed with significant epiblepharon at the National University Hospital, Singapore.
Methods
Demographic data, best-corrected visual acuity, refractive error at presentation and annually thereafter, presence of amblyopia, severity of keratopathy, and nature of surgical intervention if any were recorded.
Results
Mean age of the patients was 7.23 ± 6.43 years. 52.2% of patients had astigmatism of 1 diopter (D) or more (range, −0.5 to −4.0 D), and the astigmatism was largely with-the-rule. There was no significant association between severity of keratopathy and astigmatism. Nine percent of patients had amblyopia after spectacle correction and all had significant astigmatism. A total of 70.3% of patients underwent surgery and mean time to surgery was 12.2 ± 13.1 months after diagnosis. Mean age to surgery was 7.5 ± 7.12 years. Comparison of pre- and postoperative astigmatism in patients younger than age 5 at the time of surgery showed no significant changes in astigmatism at one to two years of follow-up.
Conclusions
There was high prevalence of astigmatism in patients with epiblepharon (52.2% had 1 D or more of astigmatism). A total of 9% of patients had amblyopia from astigmatism. Surgery did not seem to affect astigmatism especially in young children. Possibility of amblyopia from astigmatism must be borne in mind while treating children with epiblepharon.
aDepartment of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Had Yai, Songkhla, Thailand
bDepartment of Ophthalmology, National University Hospital, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore.
Inquiries to Shantha Amrith, Senior Consultant, Head of Oculoplastic Service, Department of Ophthalmology, National University Hospital, 5, Lower Kent Ridge Rd., Singapore 119074
ABSTRACT