Exophthalmometry value distribution in healthy Lithuanian children and adolescents

PURPOSE: To determine absolute and relative ocular protrusion values for healthy Lithuanian children and adolescents and analyze the data according to the age, gender, weight, height, and outer orbital distance. METHODS: A total of 397 children and adolescents were included in this study. Measurements for the right and left eyes protrusions were done with Hertel exophthalmometer in healthy subjects aged from 5 to 18 years old. Height, weight, age and gender of subjects were recorded. RESULTS: The mean age for all children and adolescents was 11.5 ± 3.6 years. For all subjects, the mean (±SD) absolute ocular protrusion value of both eyes (OU) was 14.91 ± 1.68 mm. There was no significant difference in measurements between male and female subjects although female eye protrusion was higher. No individual had more than 2 mm of asymmetry between eyes. Mean exophthalmometric values for right eye were greater than the values of the left eye, and the mean relative protrusion for all participants was 0.2 mm. The mean distance between the lateral rims of the orbits was 98.7 ± 5.2 mm for all subjects. Proptosis measurements significantly correlated with the age, weight and height of children and adolescents and base measurements. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, we have established ocular proptosis values according to the age, gender, weight and height of healthy Lithuanian children and adolescents. The eye protrusion significantly correlated with the age, weight and height of subjects and the distance between the lateral rims of the orbits. The gender did not play significant role on the eye projection data. We believe that larger, well-design studies are necessary in future to assess the distribution of proptosis in healthy Lithuanian children and adolescents.