CONGENITAL APLASIA OF THE IRIS SPHINCTER AND DILATOR MUSCLES

Congenital aplasia of the iris sphincter and dilator muscles is rare. We describe a 3-month-old boy with a patent ductus arteriosus who had this anomaly, with no other ocular or systemic abnormalities. The chil d, whom we followed for over 7 years, had reduced accommodative amplit udes. This anomaly, although it bears some similarity to Gillespie's s yndrome, circumpupillary aplasia and aniridia, is an isolated, nonprog ressive condition that general physicians need to differentiate from t he neurologically dilated pupil so that misdirected, unnecessary inves tigations can be avoided.