Coloboma

A coloboma is a hole in the structure of the eye. One eye only or both eyes can have a coloboma. This is usually a congenital caused when two parts of the eye doesn't connect before birth. The effects of a coloboma on vision varies widely from one person to another depending where the hole(s) is and how big it is.

I had never heard of this condition until I started researching low vision. There is a support group at Yahoo! for those with this condition. It's a self-help group with 498 members when I checked the site. The group also has a website with more information.

There are so many different types of colobomo that I am just going to give an overview of the condition. The MACS site is concerned mainly with children with the condition and their families. It's devestating for a parent to be told their baby is less than perfect no matter what the medical condition involved.

The CHARGE Family Support group has a website about this condition. This is a rare condition that affects more than one part of the body without a known cause. The name of the condition, CHARGE, is a first letter list of the conditions most commonly associated with CHARGE. C stands for coloboma, H stands for heart defects, A stands for atresia of the choanae, an abnormal narrowing or blockage of the nasal passages at birth, R stands for retardation of growth and developmental delay, G stands for genital anomalies, and E stands for ear anomalies.

Uveal Coloboma occurs when the normally occuring gap in the eye, the optic fissure, fails to close after the 5th week and occurs in about 1 in 10,000 live births. There is also a possibility the condition is hereditary. It's been noted that sometimes more than one family member has the condition.

The Handbook of Ocular Disease Management is filled with pictures of eyes from a list of eye diseases and conditions. They have pictures of the inner eye that has a coloboma. The Digital Reference of Ophthamology also has many pictures of congenital conditions affecting the eye.

We'll delve farther into the different congenital conditions in later posts. If you have a condition that you would like me to research first, please leave a comment, and I'll see what I can find.

Dale L. Edwards