Central Corneal Thickness in Aphakic Children and with Congenital Cataract: a Case-Control Study

Bilateral congenital cataract is the most common cause of reversible children blindness around the world. Although, Secondary glaucoma is the most frequent complication following cataract extraction in these children, reaching an incidence of 10%, enhancing the great importance of precise diagnosis and adequate follow-up. Central corneal thickness is one of the factors that interferes with the aplanation tonometry measurement. It has been observed post-operativelly, that these children have a thicker cornea, especially the aphakic ones. Eventhough, the nature of these findings is still unknown. Since intra-ocular pressure is of great importance on glaucoma treating decisions, central corneal thickness becomes an important information on the follow-up of children with cataract. The study objectives are: to compare central corneal thickness of normal children with (1) children with cataract, (2) aphakic children and (3) follow-up central corneal thickness pre and postoperatively of children with congenital cataract. The study design is a case-control study which will take place at the Ophthalmology Department of the State University of Campinas. Children with congenital cataract, normal and aphakic children will be recruited after obtaining their parents informed consent. Measurements of ultrasonic pachymetry, Goldmann aplanation tonometry and dynamic contour tonometry will be taken. There will be five fases of the study: The study will be divided into five fases: (1) transversal case-control study of bilateral aphakic children, (2) transversal case-control study of children with bilateral congenital cataract, (3) transversal case-control study of unilateral aphakic children, (4) transversal case-control study of children with unilateral congenital cataract children and (5) prospective longitudinal study of facectomized children.