The fitting of contact lenses in aphakic infants.

Infants born with a unilateral congenital cataract have always been considered a particularly difficult group of patients to treat. Our experience in fitting contact lenses to such children, after cataract removal, is described. Contact lenses must be specially designed, to account for the significant differences in size and shape of the infant eye from that of an adult eye. A group of 15 children born with a unilateral cataract, were fit with contact lenses, and have been treated for amblyopia for an average of less than 2 years. Eight patients have obtained acuities measured by preferential looking that are statistically normal for age and equal between eyes. All children are presently still under active amblyopia treatment. This preliminary study shows that infants with a congenital unilateral cataract can be successfully treated.