Department of Ophthalmology, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
A retrospective review of 17 patients with limbal dermoids revealed that 13 (76%) had astigmatism of 1.00 diopter or greater in the involved eye. In all but one patient, the minus cylinder axis of the astigmatism coincided with the location of the dermoid. Thirteen patients had surgery to remove the dermoids at ages ranging from 8 months to 15 years. The preoperative astigmatism persisted postoperatively with little change in its orientation or amount regardless of age at the time of surgery.