Minor Morbidity Vision		Excluding babies with major handicap, preterms still have a host of visual problems: esotropia and refractive errors in 29% myopia in 15-20% visual acuity worse than 20/200 in 8% This compares to the background incidence of these problems in the full-term population of <5%. Regular ophthalmology visits for detection of these problems should continue even after complete retinal vascularization has occurred and, with it, resolution of ROP. This is especially true in those babies with threshold ROP. The 15-year follow-up of the CRYO-ROP trial showed that the control eyes had a blindness rate of 55% compared to 36% for those treated with cryotherapy. However, visual acuity between 20/20 and 20/200 was 49% in cryotherapy-treated eyes compared to only 26% in controls. It seems that cryotherapy saved eyes from blindness at the expense of worse visual acuity. An additional disturbing finding from the 15-year CRYO-ROP report was the small but significant number of new retinal detachments that occurred between 10 and 15 years. These appeared in both treated and untreated eyes and even in eyes that had a normal or near-normal appearance at the 10 year follow-up. This underscores the importance of longterm follow-up. Another group of babies who have an increased incidence of a variety of visual abnormalities are those with CP. The incidence of visual problems in children with CP is huge: refractive errors - 50% concomitant squint - 37% paralytic squint - 14% These are most commonly seen with spastic diplegia and quadriplegia, the most common types of CP seen in prematures. Therefore, it is recommended that all babies with CP have regular ophthalmologic follow-up. Return to top of page