Dr. Vimal Krishna Rajput, R14200, Dr. Jyoti Matalia, Dr. Abhilasha Parkhe
The studies comparing axial lengths in unilateral cataracts have showed contrasting results.Where Kugelberg et al showed that the affected eye has a shorter axial length,Zhang et al found them to be longer.In this study we compared axial lengths of healthy and affected eyes of pediatric patients with monocular cataracts.We studied 98 eyes of 49 children between 6 months and 14 years who presented with unilateral cataract or visually significant cataract in one eye.Axial lengths were measured by ultrasound biometry.The cases were studied under different etiologies and age groups (<2 years,2-5,5-10 and >10 years).Mean axial length was 21.73 mm in the affected eye and 22.03 mm in the healthy eye.The difference was not statistically significant;nor it was significant amongst different etiologies and age groups.Our results were consistent with the study by von Noorden and Lewis where the visually deprived eye was longer than the normal fellow eye in some but shorter or unchanged in others.