Purpose: To evaluate the prevalence of refractive errors and strabismus in patients with orofacial clefts. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed the medical records of 54 patients with orofacial clefts between August 2018 and March 2020. A complete eye examination was performed, including visual acuity assessment on a logMAR scale, anterior biomicroscopy, cycloplegic refraction, eye motility examination, and indirect ophthalmoscopy.
Results: The mean age of the patients at presentation was 9.47 years. Twentythree (42.59%) patients had isolated cleft palate (CP), 10 (18.52%) had cleft lip (CL), and 21 (38.89%) had cleft lip and palate (CLP). The mean spherical equivalent was 1.30D (±1.56) in CL, 0.32D (±2.24) in CLP, and 0.62D (±3.76) in CP. The prevalence of refractive error, either spherical or cylinder >0.5 was 88%. The most common refractive error was hyperopia (60%), followed by astigmatism (54%) and myopia (16%). Overall, 52.63% of the patients were prescribed glasses. No statistically significant difference was observed between the groups with respect to the need for prescription of glasses (p=0.6753). There were 15 patients with some type of strabismus, and other ophthalmological changes were observed in 13 patients.
Conclusion: In this population with orofacial clefts, the prevalence of refractive errors and strabismus was 88% and 22%, respectively.