Optometric findings in the fragile X syndrome

Fragile X syndrome (fra X) is one of the most significant discoveries in the area of mental retardation in the past 2 decades. Although hundreds of articles and two text-books have been written on the subject, only two studies have been published in the ophthalmic literature. This paper provides a brief review of the syndrome and reports on the ocular findings of 30 subjects with this genetic abnormality. We found that 30% of the subjects exhibited strabismus. Of those with strabismus, 70% were esotropes. Fifty-nine percent of the eyes evaluated (N = 58) showed hyperopia of +1.00 D or greater, 17% myopia of -1.00 D or greater, and 22% had at least 1.00 D of astigmatism. Major ocular health abnormalities were not identified in any of our subjects. The optometrist, as the primary eye care provider, should diagnose and treat these oculo-visual dysfunctions.