Increase of Ocular Axial Length in Infantile Traumatic Cataract

Abstract

Emmetropization of the eye may be affected by visual experience. In many kinds of animal species it is possible to alter the refractive state of the eyes by manipulating the visual input during early periods of development. It is however doubtful whether the results obtained in experimental animals will help us explain the genesis of human myopia. We selected a group of patients who suffered from unilateral visual deprivation in their early life. We examined 13 adult patients who had a unilateral traumatic infantile cataract. Seven of these patients were aphakic. In all of these patients we found a greater axial length in the affected eye as compared to the uninjured eye. The difference ranged from 0.1 to 11.5 mm (mean 2.48) and was statistically significant (p = 0.0015). Our data support the view that in humans as well as in animals a severe visual deprivation in early life induces an axial elongation of the eyeball and that the refractive errors experimentally induced in animals by visual deprivation have a clinical counterpart in the human population. These data suggest that the model of the system's loss of control on the elongation of the eye may provide valuable information and a precise direction for research on etiology and control of myopia.