Abstract
Purpose: :
An intermittent exotropic deviation may be decreased by optical stimulation of accommodative convergence. Once excessive accommodation has been related to myopia, our objective was to evaluate refractive errors changes in children under overcorrecting minus lens therapy.
Methods: :
A retrospective chart review of 21 children with intermittent exotropia was performed between 1990 and 2000. All patients were treated with occlusion, and a 13-patient subset of the total received overminus lens therapy (group A). Eight children received spectables as necessary (control - group B). Differences in the initial age, age interval, initial spherical equivalent of each eye (SE), and magnitude of overcorrection were considered as co-variables of the mean variation in refractive error (SE of each eye) between groups, through a multivariate analysis.
Results: :
The magnitude of overcorrection used in group A ranged from 0.5 D to 3.5 D (2.46 ± 0.87 D). Although initial SE of each eye was significant different between group A and B (OD - P=0.02; OS- P=0.01), initial age (P=0.69), age interval (P=0.90), and mean variation in refractive errors (p=0.36) did not differ between groups. Multivariate analysis with linear regression showed no significantly difference regarding all co-variables enrolled.
Conclusions: :
Treatment of intermittent exotropia with overcorrecting minus lens did not induce refractive errors changes, even considering initial age, treatment period, initial spherical equivalent and overcorrection magnitude used.
Keywords: strabismus: treatment • visual development: infancy and childhood • refractive error development