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Definition
Anophthalmia
(anophthalmos) is a condition that means one or both eyes didn’t form
during the early stages of pregnancy. There are three classifications
for this condition.
Primary anophthalmia
is a complete absence of eye tissue due to a failure of the part of the
brain that forms the eye.
In secondary
anophthalmia the eye starts to develop and for some reason stops, leaving
the infant with only residual eye tissue or extremely tiny eyes which
can only be seen under close examination.
In degenerative
anophthalmia the eye started to form and, for some reason, degenerated.
One reason for this occurring could be a lack of blood supply to the eye.
Microphthalmia
(microphthalmos) is a condition that means the eye(s) started to form
during pregnancy but for some reason stopped, leaving the infant with
small eyes. The size of the eye can vary from child to child. If very
mild, It can almost go unnoticed but is usually very obvious. At the other
end of the scale there is extreme microphthalmia which is really the same
as some forms of anophthalmia. Distinguishing between extreme microphthalmia
and anophthalmia in such a case can be achieved by examining especially
stained tissue under a microscope but such a diagnosis isn’t usually of
much practical importance.
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