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Permanent axial length change as a result of cavernous hemangioma
Michael J Simpson1, Mark A Alford
1Alcon, Surgical Intraocular Device Research, Fort Worth, Texas 76134, USA. mike.simpson@alconlabs.com
Purpose:
To describe the visual and physical effects created by a cavernous hemangioma in the orbit of the eye, covering a period of 17 years.
Case Report:
A 35-year-old white male reported a small blurry spot in the superior visual field of one eye. This had no obvious cause, but eventually after 9 years, the eye was obviously proptotic, and a cavernous hemangioma measuring 36 mm in the longest dimension was removed from the orbit. A retrospective evaluation of spectacle prescriptions found that the refractive error had reduced by 2 D over that time period. The refraction did not undergo any clinically meaningful change after tumor removal, or over the next 8 years. A postoperative measurement of axial lengths found that the eye compressed by the tumor was nearly 1 mm shorter than the fellow eye.
Conclusions:
A cavernous hemangioma in the orbit apparently shortened the axial length of the eye over a period of several years, causing a gradual difference in refraction compared with the fellow eye. The axial length did not change after tumor removal.
