Dry eye can occur as a temporary condition in children five to 12 years old who have surgery to treat strabismus – with girls more likely to develop the condition – according to a new study.
Strabismus surgery is used to tighten or loosen eye muscles to align the position of the eyes and is one of the most common paediatric eye surgeries. Ocular surgery is considered a risk factor for dry eye disease, which is associated with ocular discomfort and/or visual symptoms and inflammatory disease of the ocular surface.
Investigators in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University in China wanted to determine the incidence and risk factors for dry eye after paediatric strabismus surgery.
Investigators, led by Yun Wang, enrolled 57 children (98 eyes) in the study, with 48 eligible for evaluation. The mean age at surgery was 7.21 years.
In a study published in Ophthalmology Therapy,1 they found that the incidence of dry eye was 47.62% at one week after surgery and decreased over time. At four weeks, 10.71% of the observed children had dry eye. By eight weeks none of the children had dry eye symptoms.
Investigators found that the nondominant eyes were more likely to develop postoperative dry eye and girls were more likely to develop dry eye after strabismus surgery.
Investigators noted several limitations to the study, including the small sample size.
Reference
1. Wang, Y., Tang, X.J., Liu, Q. et al., The Incidence and Risk Factors for Dry Eye After Pediatric Strabismus Surgery. Ophthalmol Ther 12, 87–98 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40123-022-00590-z.
