ABSTRACT
Purpose
Our study aims to investigate the effect of decreasing distance from the patient to the fixation target on the measurement of strabismus with a known distance-near disparity.
Methods
Strabismus measurements were taken by one pediatric ophthalmologist at our standard distance of 18 feet and compared to those taken at 16, 14, 12, and 10 feet from the fixation target. A clinically meaningful difference was defined as >2.5 prism diopters (PD), since a difference of that magnitude may alter surgical planning.
Results
Thirty-nine subjects, including 22 exotropes and 17 esotropes, were included in this study. Mean prism diopter difference (PDD) in the exotrope group at lengths of 16, 14, 12, and 10 feet compared to 18 feet were 1.3 (SD 1.9, range 0–6), 1.3 (SD 2.2, range 0–8), 1.7 (SD 3.2, range 0–14), and 2.8 (SD 4.4, range 0–14), respectively. Among esotropes, the mean PDD at the same distances were 1.1 (SD 1.9, range 0–7), 2.1 (SD 2.6, range 0–7), 3.9 (SD 4.9, range 0–19), and 4.3 (SD 5.1, range 0–19). The percentages of exotropes with a PDD of >2.5 at 16, 14, 12, and 10 feet compared to 18 feet were 13.6% (n = 3), 13.6% (n = 3), 18.2% (n = 4), and 27.3% (n = 6), respectively. In the esotrope group, 11.8% (n = 2), 35.3% (n = 6), 47.1% (n = 8), and 47.1% (n = 8) had a PDD of >2.5 at the same distances, respectively.
Conclusion
This pilot study is the first to investigate the change in measured angle of strabismus at various non-mirrored distances from the patient to the fixation target. Our methodology defines a framework that could be used in a higher-powered study to further our understanding of the effect of room length on strabismus evaluation.
KEYWORDS:
Acknowledgments
Thank you to Burton J. Kushner, M.D., for inspiring this research, reviewing the manuscript, providing pivotal feedback, and your everlasting impact on the field of Pediatric Ophthalmology.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).