ScholarDeck

Cross-sectionalActa ophthalmologica · 2026

Childhood ocular safety after postnatal exposure to topical dexamethasone during retinopathy of prematurity screening.

Mariya Petrishka-Lozenska, Anders K Nilsson, Ann Hellström, Pia Lundgren

Read paper

OphthalmologyCross-sectional

Topical dexamethasone during retinopathy of prematurity screening did not raise eye pressure or cause glaucoma.

Childhood ocular safety after postnatal exposure to topical dexamethasone during retinopathy of prematurity screening.

Mariya Petrishka-Lozenska … Pia Lundgren

Acta ophthalmologica · 2026

Purpose

Dexamethasone eye drops are being introduced off-label to prevent progression of severe retinopathy of prematurity (retinopathy of prematurity).

Methods

This prospective cross-sectional follow-up study included preterm infants born between 2019 and 2022 in the Västra Götaland region, Sweden, who received topical dexamethasone off-label during retinopathy of prematurity screening.

Results

18.9

mmHg

eye pressure stayed in a normal, healthy range - no sign of glaucoma

More results

Twenty-four infants (median gestational age 25.0 weeks, range 22.6-27.7 weeks; 58% male) were examined at a median age of 2.9 years (range 1.1-5.0 years).

More results

Dexamethasone eye drops were initiated mainly for severe retinopathy of prematurity at a median postmenstrual age of 35.1 weeks (range 32.0-52.0 weeks) and given for a median duration of 28 days (range 4-136 days).

One child had a unilateral peripheral lens opacity without visual significance.

“

Conclusion · 1 of 2

Preliminary data from extremely preterm infants exposed to off-label topical dexamethasone during retinopathy of prematurity screening showed no clinically significant ocular adverse effects at standardized early childhood follow-up.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Rates of strabismus and refractive errors were lower than expected. Larger studies with longer follow-up are needed to further assess ocular and systemic safety.

Post

Childhood ocular safety after postnatal exposure to topical dexamethasone during retinopathy of prematurity screening.

Topical dexamethasone during retinopathy of prematurity screening did not raise eye pressure or cause glaucoma.

Related papers