Anophthalmia or anophthalmos, is a medical term used to describe the congenital (by birth) absence of one or both the eyes. Here, the entire or partial eye ball goes missing right from birth.
In a recent study conducted in England, the incidence of this congenital disorder in newborns has been recorded to be 1.0 per 10,000 births. That is to say there is a very small chance (0.001% to be precise) of a newborn with this condition. Hence, it is classified as a rare disease.
Microphthalmia, is a medical term used to describe a condition where the size of the eye ball is at least two levels below the average size for a given age group. Its prevalence is 0.22 per 1,000 live births.
Manifestations of Anophthalmia:
There are many manifestations of this condition namely; primary, secondary and degenerative anophthalmia.
- Primary Anophthalmia means absence of eye ball, completely
- Secondary Anophthalmia means presence of extremely small eyes or very less eye tissue in the eye socket.
- Degenerative Anophthalmia is a condition which affects the blood vessels that supply blood to the eyes. Here, these blood vessels during their process of development in the fetus(baby developing in the womb) have been damaged.
Manifestations of Microphthalmia:
It can be of two types :
- Simple is where the eye is intact but the total length of the eye ball is shortened.
- Complex form of the condition is where, in addition to the small size of the eye, many of the eye parts are malformed.
Causes of these conditions:
- Chromosomal changes during development of the foetus.
- Prenatal exposure to diseases such as rubella (German measles) and toxoplasmosis (a parasitic disease).
- Consumption or exposure to chemicals such as alcohol, thalidomide, hydantoin, or LSD during pregnancy.
Treatment:
Though curing this condition completely is not a reality today, some treatments definitely bring light into the lives of the child and the family. To begin with, a tomogram or an MRI scan are performed to know the degree of defect.
To treat anophthalmia, the following methods can be used:
- Artificial eyes – Artificial eyes
- Surgery – Surgery to reconstruct the face is performed in the later years to allow the bones of the face to grow normally.
- Tinted glasses – The child may be light sensitive and so, tinted glasses may be of very good help.
- Patched eye – Children with microphthalmia could have some residual vision. So, here, the good eye should be patched to strengthen vision in the affected eye.
are used to enable the orbit and also the openings between the eye lids to expand.
Management of the condition:
* If a child has an unaffected eye, vision in that eye must be protected.
* Children with various degrees of sight impairment may display learning and behavioral difficulties. So, strength-based approaches are very important.The child’s abilities should be emphasized and the congenital conditions de-emphasized in order to build independence and boost self-confidence.
* An artificial eye can cover the microphthalmic eye for cosmetic appearance, while preserving the residual sight.
