High-risk eye disease in the neonatal age

Abstract

In clinical practice, rare congenital and co-natal eye diseases in newborns require special attention of the ophthalmologist and the neonatologist because of the possible deleterious functional consequences if not recognized and treated on time. Presented are three congenital eye diseases: retinopathy of prematurity, congenital cataract and congenital glaucoma in which surgical treatment is generally successful if performed early, up to the first year of the newborns' life. The pathophysiological development mechanisms, the clinical picture and treatment methods of congenital eye diseases are described. Late treatment represents a risk of developing impaired vision and blindness with all the sociomedical consequences of a handicapped child, with regard to intellectual development, education, socialization and integration into the work-effective population