This Issue At A Glance

Bothun et al (p. 1227) have found that intraocular lens (IOL) placement in infants aged 1 month to 6 months does not prevent the early development of strabismus following congenital cataract surgery. However, strabismus is less likely to develop in infants whose cataract is removed at an earlier age. The authors conducted a secondary outcome analysis involving patients from the Infant Aphakia Treatment Study, a randomized clinical trial comparing aphakia treatment with a primary IOL or contact lens after cataract surgery in 114 infants with a unilateral congenital cataract. The 2 cohorts were followed for the first postoperative year. The investigators found that the development of strabismus did not differ whether aphakia was managed with a contact lens or an IOL. However, infants younger than 49 days at the time of surgery developed less strabismus than those infants aged 49 days and older. The authors note that removing a cataract at an earlier age may facilitate binocularity and maintenance of orthophoria.