Changes in axial length in accommodative esotropia patients with minimal hyperopic correction

PURPOSE: To compare the changes of spherical equivalent refractive error (SER) and axial length (AL) for three years in hyperopic children with minimal undercorrection according to the presence of accommodative esotropia (AE). METHODS: A total of 67 hyperopic children were enrolled. The patients were divided into 3 groups and matched by initial age upon examination; esotropic eyes with AE (AE group), fellow eyes with AE (FE group), and right eyes without esotropia (HE group). Changes of SER and AL were serially measured every six months for three years and collected data were compared among the groups. RESULTS: All three groups underwent significant myopic shift and AL elongation during the follow-up period. However, the least amount of change was found in the AE group. The AE group (-0.96 ± 1.38D) exhibited significantly less change in SER compared to the HE group (-1.76 ± 1.11D) and the FE group (-1.57 ± 1.33D) (both p<0.001). Meanwhile, smaller changes of AL were noticeable in the AE group (0.62 ± 0.88mm) compared to the other two groups (HE 0.99 ± 0.29mm; p<0.001, FE 0.73 ± 0.65mm; p = 0.04). The SER and AL changes were not significantly different between the HE group and FE group. CONCLUSIONS: Esotropic eyes with AE patients with minimal undercorrection exhibited little negative shift of SER and AL elongation compared to not only hyperopic eyes without AE but also fellow eyes with AE.