Clinical Features of Children with +4.00 Diopters or More Hyperopia Weaning with Age

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical features of children with high hyperopia weaning with age. METHODS: The medical records of 203 children wearing spectacles due to hyperopia of +4.00 diopters (D) or greater in at least one eye based on the cycloplegic refraction and with follow-up for 3 years or more were reviewed. The patients were divided into those who showed a decrease in the spherical equivalent (SE) of 1.50 D or greater and those who maintained. The age of wearing spectacles, the magnitude of hyperopia, the angle of deviation, the ratio of accommodative-convergence to accommodation (AC/A), and the frequency of amblyopia and anisometropia were compared. RESULTS: Forty seven patients with decreased hyperopia and 156 patients with sustained hyperopia were included. The decreased-group started to wear spectacles later than the sustained-group (5.0 ± 2.3 years vs. 4.1 ± 2.4 years). The mean SE of the hyperopic eye in the decreased-group was significantly greater at the initial visit than in the sustained-group (6.29 ± 2.18 D vs. 5.47 ± 1.38 D); was identical at the 1 year follow-up (4.83 ± 1.72 D vs. 4.89 ± 1.55 D); and significantly lower at the last follow-up (3.15 ± 1.72 D vs. 4.65 ± 1.56 D). In the decreased-group, the mean hyperopia of 3.14 ± 2.02 D decreased during a mean period of 3.9 years, especially during the first year after spectacle correction. At baseline, the frequency and angle of esotropia at both distant and near with/without hyperopic correction was significantly larger in the sustained-group. The frequency of amblyopia and anisometropia and the AC/A were identical between the two groups, while the frequency of amblyopia at the last follow-up was significantly lower in the decreased-group. CONCLUSIONS: Some patients with hyperopia of +4.00 D or greater who had none or a small angle of esotropia and improved amblyopia showed a decrease in hyperopia with age.

Surgical Outcomes Dependent on the Amount of Hyperopia in Infantile Esotropia

PURPOSE: In the present study, short-term and long-term surgical outcomes dependent on the amount of hyperopia in patients with infantile esotropia were analyzed. METHODS: In this study, 80 patients with infantile esotropia who underwent both medial rectus recession from 2007 to 2011 and followed up for at least 36 months were retrospectively examined. The patients were divided into two groups according to the degree of hyperopia: ≥ +3.0 D (high hyperopia [HH], n = 59 patients) and < +3.0 D (non-high hyperopia [NH], n = 21 patients). Clinical characteristics analyzed included surgical success rate and dose-response relationship at the 3-month and 3-year postoperative follow-ups. RESULTS: Initial preoperative alignment (NH: 44.8 ± 10.2 PD, HH: 42.7 ± 11.6 PD, p = 0.450), surgical success rates (NH: 69.5% (41/59), HH: 71.4% (15/21), p = 0.837), under-correction rates (NH: 23.7% (14/59), HH: 9.5% (2/21), p = 0.191) and over-correction rates (NH: 6.8% (4/59), HH: 19.1% (4/21), p = 0.138) were not statistically significantly different between the NH and HH groups. A tendency towards a larger dose-response relationship was observed with HH (NH: 3.9 PD/mm, HH: 4.3 PD/mm) at the 3-month postoperative follow-up, but was not significant (p = 0.105). At the 3-year postoperative follow-up, exodrift was in progress and the dose-response relationship was significantly higher in the HH group than NH group (NH: 3.9 PD/mm, HH: 4.9 PD/mm, p = 0.010). A difference between the groups with amblyopia was observed (NH: 8.5% (5/59), HH: 23.8% (5/21), p = 0.146), although without statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: The surgical success rate of infantile esotropia was not statistically associated with the amount of hyperopia. There was no statistical association between the dose-response relationship and amount of hyperopia at the postoperative 3-month follow-up, but a statistical association was found in the high dose-response relationship in the HH group at the postoperative 3-year follow-up. Therefore, the conventional amount of recession or muscle resection should be modified in high hyperopic (≥ +3.0 D) infantile esotropia, and long-term postoperative follow-up is necessary.

Long-term Observations on the Emmetropization of the High Hyperopia

PURPOSE: We are to investigate the reduction rate of high hyperopia, that is, process of emmetropization. METHODS: Thirty children who had hyperopia more than spherical equivalent of+4.0 diopter and could be followed at least 3 years were reviewed retrospectively. Data including visual acuity and the magnitude of hyperopia were collected every 6 months from 3 years of age. Annual reduction rates of hyperopia were analysed. Changes in the level of hyperopia were compared with those who had strabismus or astigmatism and those who did not. RESULTS: The children who had higher degree of initial hyperopia showed the faster rates of annual reduction but also significantly higher level of remained hyperopia (p=0.003). The concurrent presence of astigmatism was associated with a lesser reduction in hyperopia (p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that, as a whole, the emmetropization of high hyperopia occurs as a linear function of the initial level and converges toward a low hyperopic value. We have also found that astigmatism might impede emmetropization.