Emmetropisation
In early childhood refractive error is widely distributed with the mean refraction being around +3.00D (Figure 1). Emmetropisation is the process of eye development that involves an active matching of the axial length of the eye to the optical power of the cornea and lens. Normally, eye development proceeds from neonatal hypermetropia towards emmetropia, rapidly within the first year12 and then more slowly for the next five to six years. Emmetropisation is visually driven and can be disrupted by environmental factors. Compensatory growth patterns (reduced eye growth with the introduction of positive spectacle lenses and increased eye growth with negative spectacle lenses) have been demonstrated in animals.13
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