Background/Aim Recent studies have demonstrated adverse psychosocial and mental health disorders among children with ocular disorders. The mental health burden of children with simple congenital ptosis, however, is unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare the psychosocial and mental health findings of children with simple congenital ptosis with controls.

Methods The medical records of all children (<19 years) diagnosed with simple congenital ptosis from 1 January 1965 through 31 December 2004 while residing in Olmsted County, Minnesota were retrospectively reviewed for psychosocial and mental health morbidity. One-to-one randomly selected age-matched and gender-matched controls from the same population were similarly reviewed.

Results 81 children with ptosis were diagnosed at a mean age of 3.2 years (range, 1 month–16 years), 35 (43.2%) of whom were girls. An adverse psychosocial development was diagnosed in 41 (50.6%) patients with simple congenital ptosis monitored to a mean age of 21.4 years, compared with 26 (32.5%) controls (p=0.02). A mental illness was diagnosed in 31 (38.3%) patients with ptosis compared with 16 (20%) controls (p=0.01). Children with ptosis were 2.5 times more likely than controls to develop a mental illness and 2.1 times more likely to develop a psychosocial maladjustment. Patients with ptosis were also significantly more likely to have more mental health disorders (p=0.02) and a longer duration of psychotropic medication use (p=0.005).

Conclusions Children diagnosed with simple congenital ptosis in this population had significantly greater psychosocial and mental health morbidity compared with controls. Children with ptosis may benefit from early psychosocial intervention.