Changes in Deviation following Correction of Hyperopia in Children with Fully Refractive Accommodative Esotropia

Abstract

Changes in deviation may occur following the correction of hyperopia in children with accommodative esotropia. We analyzed possible factors involving the development of changes in deviation. We examined 49 children (23 boys and 26 girls) who had fully refractive accommodative esotropia at the age of 3 or 4 years. All children wore glasses to correct the fully cycloplegic refractive errors. At the age of 10 or 11 years, 28 (57.1%) of these children had good alignment, 12 (24.5%) developed partial accommodative esotropia and 9 (18.4%) developed consecutive exotropia. The age at onset of esotropia, age at initial visit, and refraction, deviation and presence of stereopsis, as determined by the Titmus test using a fly at the initial visit, were similar among the three groups. In the consecutive exotropia group, amblyopia at the initial visit was significantly higher (89%) than that of the good alignment group (50%). The age at the start of the correction, and the refraction, amblyopia and presence of fusion (10 or 11 years) were almost equal among the three groups. We conclude that some children with fully refractive accommodative esotropia associated with amblyopia at the age of 3 or 4 years may be predisposed to developing consecutive exotropia.