Excessive Myopia and Anisometropia Associated with Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy

Background: To describe associations between familial exudative vitreoretinopathy(FEVR) and refractive status.Methods: We conducted retrospective studies of patients with clinical diagnoses offamilial exudative vitreoretinopathy from June 1986 through September2000. All patients had cycloplegic refraction, visual acuity with correction,and underwent fundus examination. Ocular history since early childhood wasdescribed.Results: Nine patients were recruited. All had excessive myopia, which was notedsince early childhood. Amblyopia was noted in seven of the nine patients.Asymmetric FEVR was found in four of the nine patients. In all fourpatients with asymmetric FEVR, anisometropia equal to or greater than 2.5Dwas noted. Myopia was higher and amblyopia was more severe in the eyemore severely affected with FEVR.Conclusion: Excessive myopia, anisometropia and amblyopia were more likely to occurin eyes with familial exudative vitreoretinopathy. Patients with asymmetricdisease tended to have higher myopia in the eye with more severe degree ofFEVR as compared with the paired eye and thus correlated with anisometropia.