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Invited Commentary
October 22, 2020

Beyond Visual Acuity—The Importance of Studying Motor Skills and Self-perception in Children Treated for Unilateral Congenital Cataract

Author Affiliations
  • 1Department of Global and Community Health, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
  • 2Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
JAMA Ophthalmol. 2020;138(12):1310-1311. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2020.4332

One of the most common causes of deprivation amblyopia is a unilateral congenital cataract (UCC). Deprivation amblyopia can be mitigated in these eyes with early cataract extraction followed by refractive correction with a contact lens or intraocular lens and part-time occlusion therapy. However, despite such labor- and cost-intensive treatment, a good visual outcome is by no means guaranteed in these eyes; fewer than 20% of them achieve visual acuity of 20/40 or better, and most of these children end up with no stereopsis and cosmetically significant strabismus. The recent completion of 10 years of follow-up of participants in the Infant Aphakia Treatment Study (IATS) has added to our understanding of the visual and ophthalmic outcomes in this patient population.1

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