Bifocals and Down's syndrome: correction or treatment?

Purpose: Accommodation is reduced in approximately 75% of children with Down's syndrome (DS). Bifocals have been shown to be beneficial and they are currently prescribed regularly. Clinical observations suggest the likelihood of improving accommodative ability after bifocal wear.

Association between accommodative accuracy, hypermetropia, and strabismus in children with Down's syndrome.

Purpose: A significant proportion of children with Down's syndrome have been shown to have reduced accommodation. The purpose of this study was to investigate any association between reduced accommodation and refractive error, strabismus, visual acuity, and other ocular parameters.

Methods: Subjects were children with Down's syndrome enrolled in a longitudinal cohort to monitor visual development.

In focus: the use of bifocal spectacles with children with Down's syndrome.

Purpose: Over 75% of children with Down's syndrome fail to accommodate accurately on near targets. This deficit must result in optically blurred images for near work. This present study set out to evaluate the controlled use of bifocal spectacles as an aid to near focusing.

Development of refractive error and strabismus in children with Down syndrome.

Purpose: To investigate the development of refractive errors and strabismus in a cohort of children with Down syndrome.

Method: Data for 55 children with Down syndrome who are participating in this longitudinal study of visual development, first examined by us when aged less than 2 years and on at least two other occasions, were analyzed. Mohindra retinoscopy was used to measure refractive error.