Refractive errors in Cameroonians diagnosed with complete oculocutaneous albinism.

[oculocutaneous albinism]

Albinism causes significant eye morbidity and amblyopia in children . The aim of this study was to determine the refractive state in patients with complete oculocutaneous albinism who were treated at the Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital , Yaoundé , Cameroon and evaluate its effect on vision .We carried out this retrospective study at the ophthalmology unit of our hospital . All oculocutaneous albino patients who were treated between March 1 , 2003 and December 31 , 2011 were included .Thirty -five patients (70 eyes ) diagnosed with complete oculocutaneous albinism were enrolled . Myopic astigmatism was the most common refractive error (40 %). Compared with myopic patients , those with myopic astigmatism and hypermetropic astigmatism were four and ten times less likely , respectively , to demonstrate significant improvement in distance visual acuity following optical correction .Managing refractive errors is an important way to reduce eye morbidity-associated low vision in oculocutaneous albino patients .