The Association of Strabismus and Congenital Cataract

ABSTRACT

We operated on 37 congenital cataract patients(bilateral 23, unilateral 14) from April, 1984 to April, 1986. The age of the patients at the time of their operation ranged from 2 months to 15 years old. The average age was 4.1 years old. The follow-up period ranged from 5 months to 6.3 years, the average being 2.2 years. We compared the incidence of strabismus according to unilaterality, the method of operation, the age at which the operation took place, and the correction of vision. All strabismic cases were exotropic. The strabismus occurred in 34% of all patients at the first examination and 65% at the final examination during follow-up period. The occurrence rates of the strabismus during the follow-up period were 22% in the bilateral cases, and 50% in the unilateral ones. This difference was statistically significant(p<0.05). According to the operation method, the strabismus occurred in 25% of I and A cases, but only 16% of lensectomy ones. This was also statistically signiIicant(p<0.05). The occurrence of strabismus had a statistically significant difference of 8% in operations before 3 years of age and 32% after 3 years. The occurrnce of stabismus was increased in cases of old age, after cataract, poor postoperative visual correction, and unilatral cases.