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Wavefront refractions more effective in Down syndrome
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CHICAGO – “Wavefront refractions are predicted to improve visual acuity in [those with Down syndrome] and can be used as an additional tool to prescribe glasses,” Ayeswarya Ravikumar, PhD, said at an academy-sponsored press conference here at the American Academy of Optometry meeting.
“Wavefront refraction can be an alternative to refracting nonverbal (Down syndrome) patients,” Ravikumar told attendees. “We don’t need the patient’s feedback.”
She and her colleagues evaluated the habitual refraction and dilated wavefront error from the right eye of 30 subjects with Down syndrome, according to the study. Twenty-three subjects wore spectacles, and the rest wore no vision correction.
“On average, the individuals with Down syndrome have six lines worse visual acuity,” she said. “Typical tools in the clinic may not best serve this population.
“With subjective vs. wavefront refraction, a starting point is no longer important,” she continued. “We can compare as many refractions as clinicians want.”
Ravikumar said as the next step, “We are hoping we can reduce the gap between Down syndrome and normal patients by improving ocular deficit. We are planning to dispense metric-derived prescriptions and test the actual visual acuity improvement in patients with Down syndrome.” – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO
Reference:
Ravikumar A, et al. Objective refractions outperform habitual refractions in Down syndrome eyes. Presented at: American Academy of Optometry meeting; Chicago; Oct. 10-14, 2017.
Disclosure: This research was funded by NIH grants EY024570 and P30EY07551.