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Purpose: Cataract remains the leading cause of blindness and visual impairment in most low-and middle-income countries, with the greatest burden borne by women. To achieve Global Action Plan targets, cataract programs must target people, especially women, with maximum need. This study examines whether cataract surgical programs in three major north Indian eyecare institutions are equitable and describes a refined indicator for reporting equity. Methods: Retrospective one-year cross-sectional study of cataract surgery utilization using routine administrative data from three north Indian eyecare institutions. Patient data were categorized by paying category, sex, and preoperative visual acuity. Comparisons were made between payment categories and sexes. Results: Out of the total number of patients operated, 86,230 were in the non-paying category and 56,738 in the paying category. Overall, 8.2% were blind, 21.1% were severely visual impaired (SVI) or worse, and 86.1% were moderate visual impaired (MVI) or worse. Non-paying patients had a significantly higher proportion of poorer visual categories compared to paying patients [(blind, 9.7% vs. 5.8%; SVI or worse, 24.6% vs. 15.8%; and MVI or worse, 89.1% vs. 81.6%, respectively, (P < 0.001)]. Women had significantly higher proportion of poorer visual categories than men [(blind, 8.9% vs. 7.4%, SVI or worse, 21.9% vs. 20.3% and MVI or worse 87.6 vs. 84.7%) (P < 0.001)]. Conclusion: The institutions primarily provided surgery to patients with maximum need: too poor to pay, low visual acuity, and women. Similar data from all service providers of a region can help estimate the proposed “equitable cataract surgical rate”: the proportion of patients operated with maximum need among those operated in a year. This can be used for targeting people in need.

Purpose: Cataract remains the leading cause of blindness and visual impairment in most low-and middle-income countries, with the greatest burden borne by women. To achieve Global Action Plan targets, cataract programs must target people, especially women, with maximum need. This study examines whether cataract surgical programs in three major north Indian eyecare institutions are equitable and describes a refined indicator for reporting equity.Methods: Retrospective one-year cross-sectional study of cataract surgery utilization using routine administrative data from three north Indian eyecare institutions. Patient data were categorized by paying category, sex, and preoperative visual acuity. Comparisons were made between payment categories and sexes.Results: Out of the total number of patients operated, 86,230 were in the non-paying category and 56,738 in the paying category. Overall, 8.2% were blind, 21.1% were severely visual impaired (SVI) or worse, and 86.1% were moderate visual impaired (MVI) or worse. Non-paying patients had a significantly higher proportion of poorer visual categories compared to paying patients [(blind, 9.7% vs. 5.8%; SVI or worse, 24.6% vs. 15.8%; and MVI or worse, 89.1% vs. 81.6%, respectively, (P < 0.001)]. Women had significantly higher proportion of poorer visual categories than men [(blind, 8.9% vs. 7.4%, SVI or worse, 21.9% vs. 20.3% and MVI or worse 87.6 vs. 84.7%) (P < 0.001)].Conclusion: The institutions primarily provided surgery to patients with maximum need: too poor to pay, low visual acuity, and women. Similar data from all service providers of a region can help estimate the proposed "equitable cataract surgical rate": the proportion of patients operated with maximum need among those operated in a year. This can be used for targeting people in need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cohort study included children with esotropia and hypermetropia of ≥ +2.0 diopters (D). The deviation was measured at presentation, under atropine cycloplegia and 3 months after full refractive correction. Of 44 children with a mean age of 5.2 ± 2.4 years, 25 were males. Eighteen (41%) had fully refractive accommodative esotropia (RAE), 10 (23%) had partial accommodative esotropia (PAE), and 5 (11%) had nonaccommodative esotropia (NAE). Eleven (25%) had convergence excess (CE). Under cycloplegia, all with RAE and RAE with CE had orthotropia. There was no significant change in the deviation in the patients with NAE. The deviation under cycloplegia and that with full refractive correction in PAE and PAE with CE (with +3.0 D addition) were not different. The intraclass correlation coefficient for deviation under cycloplegia and after full refractive correction (+3.0 D addition for CE) was 0.89. It was concluded that ocular deviation under cycloplegia can help to predict the accommodative component in esotropia with hypermetropia.

The Hutchinson-Gilford progeria (HGP) syndrome is an extremely rare genetic condition characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging in children. The word progeria is derived from the Greek word progeros meaning ′prematurely old′. It is caused by de novo dominant mutation in the LMNA gene (gene map locus 1q21.2) and characterized by growth retardation and accelerated degenerative changes of the skin, musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems. The most common ocular manifestations are prominent eyes, loss of eyebrows and eyelashes, and lagophthalmos. In the present case some additional ocular features such as horizontal narrowing of palpebral fissure, superior sulcus deformity, upper lid retraction, upper lid lag in down gaze, poor pupillary dilatation, were noted. In this case report, a 15-year-old Indian boy with some additional ocular manifestations of the HGP syndrome is described.

We present a series of six patients who had been receiving treatment for normal tension glaucoma (NTG; five patients) or primary open angle glaucoma (one patient). All of them were found to have optic neuropathy secondary to compression of the anterior visual pathway. Even though uncommon, compression of the anterior visual pathway is an important differential diagnosis of NTG. Diagnosis of NTG should be by exclusion. Here the possible causes of misdiagnosis are discussed. We present an approach to distinguish glaucomatous from nonglaucomatous optic neuropathy. The article also emphasizes how important it is for the clinicians to consider the total clinical picture, and not merely the optic disc morphology, to avoid the mismanagement of glaucoma, especially the NTG.

Aim : To determine the risk factors for developing phacomorphic glaucoma in eyes with mature cataracts. Materials and Methods : This is a case-control study comprising of 90 eyes with phacomorphic glaucoma and 90 age- and sex-matched control eyes with mature cataracts without phacomorphic glaucoma. Patients with pre-existing glaucoma, previous intraocular surgery and /or absence of documented axial lengths were excluded from this study. Binary logistic regression analysis of the variables, axial length and anterior chamber depth, was performed. Anterior chamber depth of the contralateral eye was used as a proxy measure of the pre-phacomorphic state in the eye with phacomorphic glaucoma as majority of them first presented to our center during the phacomorphic attack without prior measurements of the pre-phacomorphic ACD or lens thickness; therefore, their anterior chamber depth would not be representative of their pre-phacomorphic state. Axial length of 23.7 mm was selected as a cut-off for dichotomized logistic regression based on the local population mean from published demographic data. Results : The mean age was 73.1 ± 10.2 years. All phacomorphic and control eyes were ethnic Chinese. The mean presenting intraocular pressures were 49.5 ± 11.8 mmHg and 16.7 ± 1.7 mmHg in the phacomorphic and control eyes respectively (P< 0.0001), whilst the median Snellen best corrected visual acuity were light perception and hand movement in the phacomorphic and control eyes respectively. Eyes with phacomorphic glaucoma had shorter axial length of 23.1 ± 0.9 mm median when compared with that of control eyes, 23.7 ± 1.5 mm (P = 0.0006). Eyes with AL ≤ 23.7 mm were 4.3 times as likely to develop phacomorphic glaucoma when compared with AL > 23.7 mm (P = 0.003). Conclusion : Axial length less than ≤ 23.7 mm was a risk factor for developing phacomorphic glaucoma. Eyes with AL shorter than the population mean were 4.3 times as likely to develop phacomorphic glaucoma compared with eyes with longer than average AL. In an area where phacomorphic glaucoma is prevalent and medical resources are limited, patients with AL shorter than their population mean may be considered for earlier elective cataract extraction as a preventive measure.

Purpose: To evaluate the factors influencing final visual outcome after surgical repair of open globe injuries. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out at a tertiary referral eye care center in Central India. In this retrospective study, case records of 669 patients with open globe injuries were analyzed. Different preoperative variables were correlated with the final visual outcome. Exclusion criteria were patients with less than four months follow up, previous ocular surgery, presence of intraocular foreign body or endophthalmitis at the time of presentation. Using statistical tests, the prognostic factors for vision outcome following surgical repair of open globe injuries were studied. Results: Based on the Spearman′s Rho correlation analysis, following factors were found to be significantly associated with the final visual acuity at univariate level: age (P

We evaluated the safety and efficacy of pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with primary posterior iris claw intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in cases of posterior dislocation of nucleus and IOL without capsular support. This was a retrospective interventional case series. Fifteen eyes underwent PPV with primary posterior iris claw IOL implantation performed by a single vitreoretinal surgeon. The main outcome measures were changes in best corrected visual acuity and anterior and posterior segment complications. A total of 15 eyes were included in this study. Eight had nucleus drop, three had IOL drop during cataract surgery and four had traumatic posterior dislocation of lens. The final postoperative best corrected visual acuity was 20/60 or better in 11 patients. This procedure is a viable option in achieving good functional visual acuity in eyes without capsular support.

Aim : Eye morbidities with or without symptoms delineate a significant morbidity among adolescent schoolgirls in India. The study was undertaken to assess the extent of visual impairment and ocular morbidity to identify influencing factors and the impact on scholastic performance. Materials and Methods : A population-based cross-sectional study was undertaken among 3002 urban girl students of Surat in Gujarat, India. Overall prevalence of refractive error was found to be 15.22%; myopia affected 91.47%, hyperopia 4.60%, and astigmatism 0.04%. The prevalence of myopia and astigmatism was more in higher age groups, while hyperopia was more in lower age groups; even students with good vision reported ophthalmic symptoms. Of all spectacle users, in 29.73% cases the eyesight was not found to be with the best possible corrections. Refractive error was observed to be higher among the general caste (50.98%) and among Muslims (54.05%). Still, among those with problems of eyesight, 75.93% students had good academic performance. Associated ocular morbidity was noted in 20.35% participants along with the refractive error. Conclusion : This study highlighted the load of eye morbidities of adolescent Indian urban girls.

There are few studies on pseudophakic monovision even though it is widely applied. We reviewed the published literature on pseudophakic monovision. Surgeons select patients who not only have a strong desire to be free of glasses after surgery, but also fully understand monovision design and its drawbacks. However, other criteria adopted for pseudophakic monovision are very different. Both traditional monovision and cross monovision are used in pseudophakic monovision, and the target binocular anisometropia ranges from -1.0 D to -2.75 D. Postoperative results were acceptable in every study and most patients were satisfied, with vision being improved and presbyopia corrected. Complications were decreased stereopsis, contrast sensitivity, and visual fields, similar to other types of monovision. The term "pseudophakic monovision" should include more than just monocular intraocular lens implantation in two eyes, and further studies are required.

In this study, 60 fungal isolates from 60 patients with fungal keratitis were tested in vitro for their susceptibility to natamycin and the mean minimum inhibitory concentrations of natamycin (MICn) were correlated with clinical outcome. The mean MICn for various groups of fungi from patients with either early (16 μg/ml). While the clinical response in all patients with early A. flavus keratitis was good it was poor in late cases (5/8 patients, 62.5%). Fusarium species, Acremonium species and dematiaceous fungi were sensitive with low mean MICn (Fusarium: 5.7-7.2 μg/ml, Acremonium: 5.7-6.8 μg/ml, dematiaceous: (1.6-4 μg/ml). However, 46.6% (7/15) patients in Fusarium and 57.1% (4/7) in Acremonium group needed keratoplasty. We conclude that despite susceptibility of most fungal species causing keratitis to natamycin, the treatment outcome is poor in advanced fungal keratitis.

Bilateral occurrence of macular hole in X-linked retinoschisis is an extremely rare event. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings revealed that formation of a macular hole is secondary to the retinoschisis process alone. Bilateral macular holes should be added to the spectrum of X-linked retinoschisis variations and the retinoschisis process alone should be accounted for their formation.

To find the optimal dosage of cyclopentolate 1% for cycloplegic refraction in hypermetropes with brown irides, we investigated the difference in cycloplegic auto-refractions obtained after one, two, and three instillations in the same patient. The mean hypermetropia found after three instillations was statistically significantly more compared to that found after one instillation. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean hypermetropia between two and three instillations. There was no significant effect of gender, age, and the presence and type of horizontal deviation. These observations suggest that two drops of cyclopentolate 1% 10 min apart are sufficient for cycloplegic refraction in hypermetropes.

A 45-year-old man presented with binocular diplopia in primary gaze for 1 year. Orthoptic evaluation showed 10-prism diopter right eye hypotropia and 6-prism diopter right eye esotropia. The elevation and abduction of the right eye were mechanically restricted. This was associated with systemic features suggestive of acromegaly. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain demonstrated a pituitary macroadenoma. An elevated serum insulin-like growth factor I level and the failure of growth hormone suppression after an oral glucose load biochemically confirmed the diagnosis of acromegaly. Computed tomography (CT) of the orbit demonstrated bilateral symmetrical enlargement of the medial rectus and inferior rectus muscle bellies. All tests regarding Graves-Basedow disease were negative. Although rare, diplopia due to a restrictive extraocular myopathy could be the presenting symptom of acromegaly.

A case of foveal hypoplasia associated with ocular albinism with anatomic and functional changes by various techniques using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), microperimeter and confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope is described. This case highlights the importance of microperimeter in detecting the functional abnormalities of vision and SD-OCT in identifying the retinal laminar abnormalities in foveal hypoplasia.

Orbito-cranial foreign bodies present a treacherous situation that can escape detection. The only evidence of these foreign bodies may be the entry wound in the form of a small lid laceration. A two-year-old boy presented with right upper lid laceration following a fall two hours back. Analysis of the fluid around the wound revealed a beta-tracer protein (beta-TP) value of 33.5 mg/l suggestive of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Three-dimensional computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a foreign body measuring 4.2 cm x 0.8 cm passing from the orbital roof to the frontal lobe. The foreign body tract was explored through the eyelid laceration and a broken pencil was removed followed by dural patch graft. The patient developed no ocular or intracranial complications. Beta-TP, a highly specific marker of CSF is routinely used in screening patients of neurosurgery and otolaryngology with CSF leaks, however, its use has never been reported in ophthalmic literature based on an online PubMed search.

Purpose: To evaluate the factors infl uencing fi nal visual outcome aft er surgical repair of open globe injuries. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out at a tertiary referral eye care center in Central India. In this retrospective study, case records of 669 patients with open globe injuries were analyzed. Diff erent preoperative variables were correlated with the fi nal visual outcome. Exclusion criteria were patients with less than four months follow up, previous ocular surgery, presence of intraocular foreign body or endophthalmitis at the time of presentation. Using statistical tests, the prognostic factors for vision outcome following surgical repair of open globe injuries were studied. Results: Based on the Spearman's Rho correlation analysis, following factors were found to be signifi cantly associated with the fi nal visual acuity at univariate level: age (P<0.001), preoperative visual acuity (P=0.045), mode of injury (P=0.001), and time lag between the injury and surgery (P=0.003). None of the other clinical factors have statistically signifi cant correlation with fi nal visual acuity. On multivariate analysis using binary logistic regression, only age, mode of injury and the time lag between injury and surgery achieved statistically signifi cant results. Conclusion: In the current study, elapsed time between the injury and surgery, age of the patient, preoperative visual acuity and mode of injury were found to be adversely aff ecting the fi nal visual outcome. Recognizing these factors prior to surgical intervention or intraoperatively can help the surgeon in evidence-based counseling of the trauma victim and family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT. Purpose: To compare preoperative visual acuities in patients who underwent cataract surgery between 1982 and 2000. Methods: Information on visual acuity (VA), ocular disease and general disease was obtained from records relating to samples of consecutive cataract operations in 1982, 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000 in two hospitals in the Vaasa region of Finland. Results: Between 1982 and 2000, the average preoperative VA in the operated eye increased by 0.85 logMAR units (from logMAR 1.56 to logMAR 0.71) or 8.5 log lines. Corresponding decimal values are 0.03 and 0.2, respectively. In the better eye, VA increased from logMAR 0.64 to logMAR 0.37. Corresponding decimal values are 0.23 and 0.43, respectively. The incidence of cataract surgery increased from 1.0 to 7.2 operations per 1000 of the population per year over the period. For an annual increase of one operation per 1000 inhabitants, the increase in average VA before surgery is 1.3 log lines in the operated eye and 0.4 log lines in the better eye. The number of patients with visual impairment (WHO definition: VA < 0.3) before surgery fell from 47% to 15%, and the number of patients with profound visual handicaps (VA < 0.1) before surgery fell from 15% to 4%. Conclusion: The preoperative vision of patients undergoing cataract surgery during the last two decades has improved significantly. Preoperative VA has increased linearly in line with the incidence of surgery. Only a small proportion of the increase in incidence of cataract surgery can be explained by the increasing average age of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a well-known clinical entity in premature babies. We report two patients (1 and 2) with regressed ROP who later presented with retinoblastoma (RB). To the best of our knowledge, there is only one such report in the literature so far. Two unrelated patients 1 and 2, born at 32 weeks gestation were screened for ROP at 34 weeks gestation. This showed Zone II Stage II ROP which regressed by 38 weeks of gestation on follow-up. Both patients were lost to follow-up by 40 weeks of gestation. They presented at four years of age with white reflex in the eye. Patient 1 was found to have unilateral and patient 2 bilateral RB. The occurrence of RB in these patients with regressed ROP is probably coincidental.