CHILDHOOD APHAKIC CORNEAL GLAUCOMA

Background: Glaucoma occurring after successful cataract surgery in in fancy and childhood requires persistence to establish timely diagnosis and presents a therapeutic challenge. Previous studies have sought to identify risk factors, which would alert the clinician for the likeli hood of developing glaucoma after cataract surgery in the young patien t. Some risk factors are early age of surgery, microcornea, poor pupil lary dilation, retained lens cortex, coexisting ocular anomalies, and cataract type. Other studies did not find these associations. In our e xperience, the majority of young aphakic glaucoma patients have microc ornea. This study was carried out to investigate this association. Met hods: The records were reviewed of all patients' treated for aphakic g laucoma between 1991 and 1995 to determine the age at cataract surgery , age at glaucoma surgery, age at glaucoma diagnosis, corneal diameter s, and other clinical characteristics. Results: Forty-eight eyes in 29 patients were identified with aphakic glaucoma. Forty-five of the 48 (94%) eyes were found to have microcornea when compared with the norma l corneal diameter for their age. Conclusion: All children undergoing cataract surgery should have their corneal diameters recorded. Patient s with corneal diameters smaller than normal should be followed closel y for the development of glaucoma throughout childhood and beyond.