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Refractive Errors

Boonkit Purt, MD Reviewed 04/2024
 


BASICS

DESCRIPTION

  • A refractive error refers to the inability of the eye to produce a focused image on the fovea or central part of the retina. Refraction is the bending of light as it passes from air ...

DIAGNOSIS

HISTORY

  • Difficulty seeing objects at a distance

  • Difficulty focusing on near objects or reading

  • Headaches (from squinting)

  • In children:

    • Sitting close to TV/computer screen

    • Declining grades

    • Preferenc...

TREATMENT

GENERAL MEASURES

  • Spectacle lenses (glasses)

  • Soft/hard contact lenses

  • Surgery

MEDICATION

Some studies  (4) have found evidence supporting the use of low-dose atropine 0.01% to reduce progression o...

ONGOING CARE

FOLLOW-UP RECOMMENDATIONS

Patient Monitoring

  • Exams recommended when starting school, entering college, with any change in vision quality, and at the age of onset of presbyopia (the need for...

REFERENCES

1
Ip JM, Saw SM, Rose KA, et al. Role of near work in myopia: findings in a sample of Australian school children. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2008;49(7):2903–10. doi: 10.1167/iovs.07-0804.
2
...

CODES

ICD10

  • H52.7 Unspecified disorder of refraction

  • H52.00 Hypermetropia, unspecified eye

  • H52.10 Myopia, unspecified eye

  • H52.4 Presbyopia

  • H52.202 Unspecified astigmatism, left eye

  • H52.6 Other disorders of ...

CLINICAL PEARLS

  • Vision screening should occur at each well-child visit.

  • Visual acuity testing performed at 3 to 5 years of age or at any time that there is concern about the child's eye movements, abil...

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