[Aniridia]

Aniridia is a congenital developmental anomaly of the eye that usually affects both eyes. The development of the iris, cornea, lens, angle, optic nerve and retina is disturbed. Aniridia is most often a hereditary disease with an autosomal dominant, rarely autosomal recessive inheritance, but sporadic cases are also possible. The vision function in aniridia has been observed to have a wide range from blindness to a normal visual acuity. The more serious cases where blindness occurs has been due not specifically to the aniridia but to associated conditions like cataract, glaucoma, foveal hypoplasia, corneal dystrophy, nystagmus. Aniridia could be associated with the mental retardation. Some of the sporadic cases develop Wilms' tumor, frequently as part of the WAGR syndrome (Wilms' tumor, aniridia, genitourinary abnormalities and mental retardation).