Hyperopia in preschool and school children

Abstract

Hypermetropia (hyperopia) is a refractive error of the eye in which parallel light rays focus behind the macula luthea without accommodation giving an unclear retinal image. The involvement of accommodation in correction of far-sightedness lead to the following three clinical types of hvperopia: total, latent and manifest. Minor hyperopias can be successfully corrected by accommodation higher than +3.0D. If not corrected timely, they may cause amblyopia and esotropia, while high hyperopic anisometropia of a hyperopic eye, usually results in an amblyopic eye. The study included 200 children (400 eyes) within the age range of 3 to 18 years, and it was done following the assigned protocol in the course of clinical ophthalmologic check-ups. The most frequent refractive error in the examined children was hyperopia with hyperopic astigmatism, while anisometropia was found in 22% of children but the frequency was reduced in older children. Refractive family history was found in 60.50% of children. Hyperopia can result in poor visual development, occurrence of amblyopia and strabismus and therefore it represents a significant public health problem. As one of the most frequent amblyogenic factors in children, it can be eliminated/prevented by a screening program and adequate treatment providing prevention of amblyopia, which is a form of blindness.