Authors: Ouattara Yves, Diabaté Zana, Godé Liliane Ella, Koffi Kouassi Franck-Hermann, Babayeju Rahemotu Llahi Opeyemi, Obé Sopie Vanessa Leslie, Diomandé GF, Bilé Philippe Emile France Koffi, Diomandé Ibrahim Abib.
Introduction: The aim of this work was to measure the impact of cycloplegia on the precision of the correction of refractive errors in our conditions.
Material and Methods: This was a prospective and transversal study with descriptive aims on 25 patients (N=50 eyes) who underwent an objective study of refraction using an automatic refractometer before, then under cycloplegia. The patients' optical correction adjusted subjectively from the values of the refraction under cycloplegia, was also recorded, and all values were converted to spherical equivalents for analysis.
Results: The patients were aged 7 to 37 years (average 20.6 +/-8.35 years) with a predominance of women (64%) and most pupils and students (84%). The most frequent reasons for consultation were headache (18.10%), photophobia (14.66%), eye pain (13.8%), ocular itching and tearing (12.93% each). The measurement of refraction before cycloplegia revealed in spherical equivalents, 82% myopia, 16% hyperopia and 2% emmetropia. Under cycloplegia, there was 20% myopia, 72% hyperopia and 8% emmetropia. After optical correction, the distribution of refractive errors, in spherical equivalent, was 24% (n=12) myopia, 72% (n=36) hyperopia and 4% (n=2) emmetropia.
Conclusion: The reduction in visual acuity felt or expressed is a poor indicator of the existence of a refractive error in children. Precise correction of this requires cycloplegia, especially since the subjects are young or present symptoms such as headaches, photophobia or oculalgia, even with “normal” uncorrected distance visual acuity.
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