Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To examine the effects of scleral buckling on the growing eyes of infants with retinal detachment using the angle of refractive change. Methods: Thirty-five eyes of 35 patients (age range, 7 to 15 years old; mean 11.5 years old) were treated by silicone implant methods. All of them re-attached with one surgery. Fellow eyes with lattices or holes were treated with cryotherapy. The patients were followed up for four years. A retrospective analysis of post-operative refractive change in the buckled eyes was conducted by repeated measure ANOVA. Fellow eyes were used as the control. The analysis also compared age at the time of surgery, the length of silicone tire, post-operative visual acuity, and refractive error. We used the subjective refractive errors by lens exchange. Results: Mean refractive change in the operated eyes was -0.6 diopters, while that in fellow eyes was -1.2 diopters after 4 years. The operated eyes became less myopic than their fellow eyes did (P<0.05), especially at under 10 years old (-0.1 diopers/4 years vs. -1.6 diopters/4 years: P<0.01) or when the silicone tire length exceeded 1/4 of the equator (-0.4 diopters/4 years vs. -1.3 diopters: P<0.05). Refractive changes were not corrected to post-operative visual acuity or refractive error. Conclusion: Scleral buckling made the infants eyes significantly less myopic, especially at younger ages or with longer buckling. The difference in the effects of scleral buckling according to age at the time of surgery or to the length of the buckling suggests that scleral buckling in infants might impede ocular growth.
Keywords: 543 refractive error development • 628 vitreoretinal surgery • 563 retinal detachment