Paradoxical myopic shift following cycloplegia in retinopathy of prematurity patients: a case series

INTRODUCTION: Spectacle non-compliance is a significant problem in pediatric patients, and may have a variety of consequences. Non-compliance with myopic refractive correction could be secondary to a variety of issues, including age, discomfort, gender, urban vs. rural residence, presenting visual acuity, and degree of refractive error. We observed a phenomenon in our pediatric patients with retinopathy of prematurity that may add another possible explanation: incorrect prescription due to measures of increased, rather than decreased, myopia after cycloplegia. CASE PRESENTATION: An unmasked, prospective study of 8 consecutive patients seen in a single practice. Retinoscopic refraction measurements were obtained before and after pharmacologic cycloplegia. In all 13 eyes, there was either no change (2 eyes) or a myopic shift (11 eyes) in the measured refractive error. The average change in refraction was -1.58 and -1.54 for the right and left eyes, respectively (range 0 to -3.00 OD and 0 to -3.00 OS). CONCLUSIONS: The contribution of ocular components to refractive status differs between ROP and non-ROP eyes. Unanticipated myopic shift following cycloplegia in ROP patients may result in inappropriate glasses prescription with poor correction of visual acuity. This may contribute to spectacle noncompliance in this group.