Outcome of Treatment of Marked Ametropia Without Strabismus Following Screening and Diagnosis Before the Age of Three

Following early treatment of 39 consecutive cases with marked ametropia without strabismus, diagnosed by screening at the age of one to two and a half years, residual amblyopia was found in 20 (51%), including six (15%) with bilateral amblyopia, but with relatively good visual acuity in at least one eye. Anisometropia showed the highest rate of residual amblyopia. The main changes in refraction that occurred from the age of screening to the age of seven years was myopisation, especially in hypermetropic eyes without amblyopia. Heterotropia, always intermittent, developed in six of the 39 cases. Full stereopsis could be found in eight cases only, all without amblyopia. The majority, whether amblyopic or not, had partial binocular functions but four cases, all amblyopic, had none.