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

ABSTRACT

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.