Chloral hydrate sedation as a substitute for examination under anesthesia in pediatric ophthalmology.

We examined more than 300 children as outpatients with orally administered chloral hydrate sedation during the past three years; 175 of them have been examined in the last year. Without chloral hydrate sedation, examination under anesthesia would have been necessary or the results would have been less than satisfactory. Orally administered chloral hydrate has a wide margin of safety and is most appropriate for office or clinic use. It may also allow accurate measurement of the intraocular pressure in infantile glaucoma.