Homaira Iqbal Khan, Naeem Khattak, Aftab Afridi, Adnan Alam, Jahandad Khan, Mahfooz Hussain.
Axial Length of Eye in Newborns with Possible Prediction of Amblyopia.
Ophthalmol Update Jan ;15(3):198-200.

Purpose: The purpose of study was to find out mean axial length of eye in newborn babies in Pakistani population and possible difference of axial length in right and left eye to predict amblyopia. Methods: The study was carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Axial length of 200 eyes of 100 new born babies was determined by using B scan. One hundred newborns were classified according to their gestational age into preterm and term infants and their axial length was measured with B scan. Results: In the present study, male to female ratio was 55:45. In the study 84% of the newborns were full term babies and 16% were preterm. Average axial length of 100 right eyes was 14.93mm while average axial length of left 100 eyes was 15.25mm. This does not look much different but when looked for those eyes that have 1mm or more than 1mm difference in two eyes then it was found out that 40 out of 100 eyes had 1mm or more than 1mm axial length difference. This is significant as more than 1mm difference between two eyes can have approximately 3 diopter difference which can cause amblyopia. Conclusions: Axial length measurement at birth can possibly predict amblyopia though larger studies, needed to confirm this finding in different ethnic groups, consanguineous marriages or diverse communities with different cultures.

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