What is retinopathy of prematurity?

Also known as: ROP.

ROP is an eye disease affecting the retina (the tissue at the back of the eye that senses light, sending those signals to the brain to be interpreted as sight) that occurs in some babies who are born very immature (before 31 weeks gestation/1250 grams or less-a normal full term pregnancy is 38-42 weeks). Not all very premature babies develop ROP. When present the disease is classified into 5 stages depending on severity; Mild (stage 1-90%) through Severe (stage 5) which may result in serious vision loss.

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Reviewed by: Jack Wolfsdorf, MD, FAAP

This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM