Pigmentary dispersion

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Pigmentary dispersion is typically seen in young adult, white, myopic males. It can be inherited as an autosomal dominant trait and has been mapped to chromosome 7. It is usually bilateral but can be quite asymmetric.

Patients with this condition tend to have deep anterior chambers and large irides with the latter often inserting more posteriorly than usual. If the irides are bowed back in their mid-peripheral aspect, irido-zonular contact can cause the liberation of pigment into the anterior chamber. The dispersion of pigment tends to decrease in middle age, ceasing altogether around the sixth and seventh decades of life. Retinal lattice degeneration is a further complication in about 15 per cent of these eyes.