Axial Myopia in Keratitis Phlyctaenulosa Caused by form Deprivation Myopia

Abstract

Animal experiments carried out by Chew, Norton, Schaeffel orWallmann(1-10) revealed that translucent occluders or concave lenses caninduce axial eye elongation a so-called form deprivation myopia (FDM).In order to find a clinical correlate, this retrospective multicenterstudy examined 156 cases of keratitis phlyctaenulosa peracta. Themajority of cases were corneal transplant patients. The pre-operativerefraction of this group showed -4.44 dpt on average whereas it is +0.5dpt in the general population. In patients with an early onset of thecorneal disease, i.e., prior to the age of five, myopia was higher thanin cases in here the onset was late. It was possible to establishbiometrically the axial length in 62 patients which was on average 26.58mm, thus being approximately 3 mm above Rohen's mean norm. These resultsconfirm that form deprivation controls the linear growth of the eye, notonly in animal experiments, but also in clinical cases.