Early-Onset Exfoliation Syndrome: A Literature Synthesis.

Abstract

PRECIS\nWe conducted a literature review of younger patients with exfoliation syndrome in an attempt to identify case similarities and better understand disease etiology.\n\n\nPURPOSE\nExfoliation syndrome (XFS), which predisposes to secondary glaucoma is a strongly age-related condition. We performed a literature review of XFS and exfoliation glaucoma (XFG) in patients aged ≤40 years to examine potential common characteristics and gain clues to its etiology.\n\n\nMETHODS\nWe conducted a broad literature search with appropriate keywords and manually extracted key demographic and ocular features on younger XFS and XFG cases. Articles that did not provide past ocular history on early-onset XFS/XFG were excluded.\n\n\nRESULTS\nWe identified 12 cases of XFS and XFG in patients from 13-40 years old (8 females; 11 White; 5 from Iran). All had past ocular history remarkable for intraocular surgery for other glaucoma conditions (7 cases), other ocular diseases (3 cases), or ocular trauma (2 cases).\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nAll reported early-onset XFS and XFG cases arise in the setting of events that produced significant disruption of the blood aqueous barrier. Understanding the metabolic alterations of aqueous humor from such cases could provide clues regarding how exfoliation material forms.