The Effect of 0.01% Atropine Eye Drops on the Ocular Surface in Children for the Control of Myopia—The Primary Results from a Six-Month Prospective Study

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the effect of 0.01% atropine eye drops on the ocular surface in children for the control of myopia.

Methods

A total of 72 participants were recruited for this prospective study. Prior to and after 1, 3, and 6 months of 0.01% atropine administration, an ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire was obtained, Keratograph 5M was used for the measurement of the tear meniscus height (TMH), noninvasive keratographic tear film break-up time (NK-BUT, the first keratographic break-up time, [NK-BUT_first] and the average keratographic break-up time, [NK-BUT_ave]), bulbar redness (BR), meiboscore (MS), and anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) was used to calculate the inferior tear meniscus area (TMA).

Results

After using the 0.01% atropine eye drops for 1 month, 9 subjects complained of discomfort immediately after administration, but this quickly subsided, and 1 subject was temporarily dazzled. All the ocular surface symptoms were mild and occurred rarely. After 3 months, these complaints no longer occurred. Compared with the baseline values, the OSDI scores (0.08 ± 0.28), values of TMH (0.23 ± 0.04 mm), TMA (0.0420 ± 0.0444 mm²), NK-BUT_first (9.39 ± 5.25 s), NK-BUT_ave (10.49 ± 4.94 s), BR (0.63 ± 0.37), and MS (0.89 ± 0.70) did not change significantly after 6 months of 0.01% atropine eye drop administration (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

In this 6-month prospective study, no side effects were observed on the ocular surface after using 0.01% atropine in children.

Keywords:

• 0.01% atropine eye drops
• ocular surface
• children
• myopia control

Abbreviations

OSDI, ocular surface disease index; TMH, tear meniscus height; TMA, tear meniscus area; NK-BUT, noninvasive keratographic tear film break-up time; BR, bulbar redness; MS, meiboscore; AS-OCT, anterior segment optical coherence tomography; SD, standard deviations; IOP, intraocular pressure; AL, axial Length; K, keratometry; ACD, anterior chamber depth; CCT, central cornea thickness; UCVA, uncorrected visual acuity; SE, spherical equivalent.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest for this work.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology Foundation (Grant No.19441901000). The sponsor and funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research.