[Eye diseases and visual disability in extremely low birth weight infants]

79 consecutively treated very low birth weight newborns (less than 1000 g) were systematically examined in the postpartal period and after a follow-up of 2 to 5.5 years. Retinopathy of prematurity was found in 19 eyes of 10 children (maximum stage III-IV). At a minimum age of 2 and maximum age of 6 years, when 42 of these children could be reexamined, including all children with earlier retinopathy of prematurity, 10 children suffered from minimal to moderate retinal pathology due to inactive retinopathy of prematurity (4 eyes with dragging of vessels and macula), but 9 children exhibited a minor visual disability due to strabism, higher ametropia, anisometropia, and amblyopia. This stresses the need for opthalmological follow-up in low birth weight babies with 6 months and 3-4 years of age.