Importance of careful ophthalmologic follow-up of premature infants.

In this issue, Saldir et al. emphasize the importance of regular follow-up of premature infants for the development of ophthalmologic problems during early childhood. Retinopathy of prematurity is the primary ocular disorder that the ophthalmologist must screen for in the neonatal period. However, it seems that there is a higher incidence of strabismus and refractive errors that develop in premature infants during early childhood. These ocular disorders are more commonly found in neonates with a gestational age of younger than 30 weeks. Both strabismus and refractive errors can have a profound effect on the visual outcome of these premature infants. Therefore, regular and careful ophthalmologic follow-up in these infants is a necessity. It is also important that the parents or guardians of these premature infants are advised of the possibility of these ocular disorders that may develop so that they realize the importance of follow-up ocular examinations for their children.