Myopia Induced by Vitreous Hemorrhage

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Six of 11 children developed myopia in one eye after vitreous hemorrhage. None had retinopathy of prematurity, glaucoma, aphakia, or scleral buckling. In seven children developing vitreous hemorrhage before 1 year of age, six exhibited a myopic anisometropia in the affected eye of 1.37 to 12.00 diopters (mean, −4.7 diopters; S.D., 4.0). The degree of myopia correlated with the age of onset and duration of media opacification. In the child without myopia, the hemorrhage did not obscure the posterior pole. None of the four children whose hemorrhage occurred after 2½ years of age showed myopic anisometropia (mean, +0.16 diopters; S.D., 0.24). We conclude that vitreous hemorrhage occurring in infancy is strongly associated with the development of myopia in the affected eye.

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    Reprint requests to Christopher F. Blodi, M.D., Department of Ophthalmology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA 52242.

    This study was presented in part at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Sarasota, Florida, May 3, 1989.

    This study was supported in part by an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., New York, New York.

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