Retinopathy of Prematurity: Diagnosis and Treatment

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is an eye condition that affects thousands of premature babies each year. ROP is the leading cause of childhood vision loss, but it doesn’t have to be.

If your baby is born before 30 weeks or weighs less than 3 pounds at birth, they are at risk for retinopathy of prematurity. This condition occurs when the blood vessels in the retina don’t fully develop. Your baby’s retina (lining in the back of the eye) is crucial for clear vision. The retina contains tiny blood vessels that grow and develop throughout pregnancy. In preemies, these blood vessels are not finished growing at birth.

In most cases, your baby’s eye vessels will continue to grow and correctly develop over their first few months of life. But in some cases, the immature blood vessels in the retina start to grow in the wrong direction. These abnormal blood vessels can cause bleeding or scarring in the eye. In severe cases, ROP can cause retinal detachment (when the retina separates from the back of the eye). Retinal detachment is a serious condition that can cause permanent blindness.

The team at Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology has developed a system for screening for ROP and has effective treatments to make sure your premature baby’s eyes grow healthy and fully develop. Our pediatric eye care team has decades of experience treating ROP and other eye conditions in children.

Learn more about how our Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology can treat retinopathy of prematurity and many other pediatric eye conditions: https://www.childrenscolorado.org/doc...

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