Refractive errors in patients with fundus flavimaculatus.

A total of 59 patients (118 eyes) with fundus flavimaculatus who had atrophic macular lesions were examined for refractive error. Myopic refractions of greater than -0.1 dioptre were seen in 12% of a normal population and in 76% of our patient population. The spherical equivalent refractive errors described a single-peaked skewed distribution with a mean of -1.12 dioptres, which is 2.12 dioptres more myopic than that of a normal population. In addition astigmatic refractive errors of greater than +0.5 dioptres were found in 42% of this patient population, which is considerably more than the 18.6% observed in a normal population.