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Interocular Comparison of Refractive Development in Children With Unilateral Traumatic Optic Neuropathy
Lirong Liao1,2, Yang Gao1, Xiaojie Feng1
1State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Ocular Diseases, Guangzhou, China.
Children with unilateral traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) experience significantly slower myopia progression in the injured eye. Severe vision loss in TON nearly halts myopia development, suggesting visual input influences refractive error.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Pediatric ophthalmology
- Refractive error development
Background:
- Unilateral traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) in children presents a unique opportunity to study refractive development.
- Understanding how optic nerve damage affects eye growth and myopia is crucial for pediatric eye care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize interocular refractive development in children with unilateral TON.
- To evaluate the impact of visual loss severity on myopia progression in affected eyes.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective, longitudinal, self-controlled cohort study of 21 children (3-15 years) with unilateral TON.
- Analysis of cycloplegic spherical equivalent refractions (SERs) over time, comparing TON eyes with fellow eyes.
- Stratification of TON eyes by baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) into no light perception (NLP) and better than NLP groups.
Main Results:
- TON eyes exhibited significantly slower myopic progression (0.250 D/y) compared to fellow eyes (P < 0.001).
- Eyes with no light perception (NLP) showed a flatter myopic trajectory (0.195 D/y) than those with better vision (P = 0.044).
- Severe vision loss in TON eyes nearly arrested myopic progression.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric unilateral TON leads to markedly slowed myopia progression in the injured eye.
- Postretinal visual input plays a significant role in modulating refractive development.
- The fellow eye in unilateral TON requires monitoring for myopia progression.
