Association between ocular dominance and spherical/astigmatic anisometropia, age, and sex

PURPOSE: To determine the association between ocular dominance and spherical/astigmatic anisometropia, age, and sex in hyperopic subjects.

METHODS: The medical records of 1274 hyperopic refractive surgery candidates were filtered. Ocular dominance was assessed with the hole-in-the-card test. Refractive error (manifest and cycloplegic) was measured in each subject and correlated to ocular dominance. Only subjects with corrected distance visual acuity of >20/22 in each eye were enrolled, to exclude amblyopia. Associations between ocular dominance and refractive state were analyzed by means of t-test, χ(2) test, Spearman correlation, and multivariate logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS: Right and left eye ocular dominance was noted in 57.4 and 40.5% of the individuals. Nondominant eyes were more hyperopic (2.6 ± 1.27 diopters [D] vs. 2.35 ± 1.16 D; P < 0.001) and more astigmatic (-1.3 ± 1.3 D vs. -1.2 ± 1.2 D; P = 0.003) compared to dominant eyes. For spherical equivalent (SE) anisometropia of >2.5 D (n = 21), the nondominant eye was more hyperopic in 95.2% (SE 4.7 ± 1.4 D) compared to 4.8% (1.8 ± 0.94 D; P < 0.001) for the dominant eye being more hyperopic. For astigmatic anisometropia of >2.5 D (n = 27), the nondominant eye was more astigmatic in 89% (mean astigmatism -3.8 ± 1.1 D) compared to 11.1% (-1.4 ± 1.4 D; P < 0.001) for the dominant eye being more astigmatic.

CONCLUSIONS: The present study is the first to show that the nondominant eye has a greater degree of hyperopia and astigmatism than the dominant eye in hyperopic subjects. The prevalence of the nondominant eye being more hyperopic and more astigmatic increases with increasing anisometropia.