Refractive errors in albino children in Brazzaville

Abstract

We evaluated refractive disorders in Albino children of Brazzaville and assessed their impact on the visual acuity of these children.Patients and method: Our study was conducted at the University Hospital of Brazzaville in October 2018 as part of a special program of the Congolese Association of Albinos aimed at providing glasses free of charge to albino children. This was a cross-sectional study of 32 children with oculocutaneous albinism.All children received a complete ophthalmological examination. Ametropia was measured by cycloplegic autorefraction performed approximately 45-60 minutes after topical instillation of 3 drops of 1% cyclopentolate administered 5 minutes apart.Results: All children had nystagmus, including 2 cases with strabismus (6.25%). All children had astigmatism, 56.25% of whom were hypermetropic. The mean corrected visual acuity in the better eye was 0.18+/-0.14. The Mean uncorrected visual acuity in the better eye was 0.33+/-0.15. The improvement in visual acuity after correction was statistically significant P=0.002. Conclusion:Albinism is associated with a variety of ocular anomalies including ametropia. Hypermetropic astigmatism was the most common refractive error identified in our series. Correction of this ametropia results in a statistically significant improvement in visual acuity.