National Eye Centre

Objective: To compare two cylindrical refinements i.e. autorefractometer and straddling by taking patients response. Method: Study protocols was approved by Ethical Review Board of College of Ophthalmology and Allied Vision Science, Lahore. A proforma based nonrandomized interventional method of study was conducted in National Eye Centre Lahore from August 2025 to September 2025. The size of obtained sample was 91 that included young healthy adults of age 18-35 having 1.00-3.00 D of astigmatism. Auto refraction, subjective refraction and then straddling was performed and then response was recorded by taking consent. Exclusion criteria for this study was individual with any ocular pathology. P-value was calculated by using Paired sample T test. Value of ˂0.05 was considered significant. Results: No statistically visible significant differences were noted in between the methods (p-value > 0.05). Although minor variations exist in axis measurements, patients' satisfaction remained constant, showing that the interchangeability of the techniques was valid. These results agree with prior studies that stressed the flexibility yet accuracy needed in refractive assessment tools. Conclusion: The straddling technique offers a reliable, time-efficient alternative to auto-refractometers for cylindrical axis refinement, ensuring comparable accuracy and patient satisfaction.

To evaluate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown on the demographic and clinical profile of patients presenting with ocular trauma. A retrospective comparative cross-sectional study of ocular trauma patients managed in the emergency department (ED) from 26 March 2020 to 31 June 2020 and the similar period in 2019. The differences in patients' data (age, presenting visual acuity, mechanism of injury, location of injury, class of trauma, presentation time post-injury and ocular interventions) were compared. There were 50 trauma patients pre-COVID-19 and 83 patients at lockdown with a trauma prevalence of 1.2% and 2.0%, respectively. The mean age of patients was 21.7 ± 18.8 and 21.1 ± 13.9 years pre-COVID-19 and at lockdown (P = 0.084). During lockdown, the proportion of children with eye injuries decreased from 58% to 50%, also patients with presenting visual acuity worse than 6/60 decreased from 70% to 60.3%. Regarding the mechanism of trauma, there was an increase in the percentage of domestic injuries, vegetative matter implicated and open globe injury (respectively from 44% to 62.7%, from 16% to 32.5% and from 36% to 41%). Injury-to-treatment time was longer during the lockdown. Presentation to the ED within 24 hours of injury reduced to 28.9% from 44% (P = 0.035). More patients (59%) were managed conservatively at lockdown compared to 46% pre-COVID-19 (P = 0.004). The number and prevalence of ocular injuries increased during the COVID-19 lockdown. Injuries were more severe, mainly domestic and vegetative matter was most implicated. Patients presented later to the hospital and were mostly managed conservatively during the lockdown.

Introduction: Color blindness, or color vision deficiency, is an eye condition that can reduce quality of life. Tinted contact lenses have been researched as a potential tool for correcting color blindness. Methods: This review aims to identify the effectiveness of color blindness aids and devices for patients with color vision deficiency as an alternative to enhance their quality of life. Article searches were conducted through electronic databases Google Scholar and PubMed using the keywords “color vision deficiency device,” “color blindness device,” and “color vision deficiency management.” Inclusion criteria included articles published between 2018-2023, full texts, writing in English, alignment of titles with abstracts, and validity of research methods. Results: The literature search yielded 98 articles; 8 articles met the inclusion criteria. Analysis of these 8 articles showed that color blindness devices and aids provide subjective new color perception and interpretation for color-blind individuals, but the objective effectiveness of these tools was not significant. Conclusion: The importance of public awareness of color blindness and the importance of developing more effective color-blind tools and devices. Further research is needed to develop color blindness devices and aids.

To estimate the prevalence, describe causes and prescription needs of functional low vision (FLV) patients, and highlight the barriers these patients encounter to the uptake of multidisciplinary low vision rehabilitation (LVR) service. A mixed study design was adopted. Quantitative analysis consisted of a retrospective and cross-sectional review of 241 (FLV) patients managed at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna. Relevant data extracted from patient records were age, sex, occupation, best-corrected visual acuity, cause of low vision and low vision aids or rehabilitation prescribed. Qualitatively, 45 FLV patients were selected by systematic random sampling. Patient barriers to the uptake of LVR services were elicited through one-on-one interviews. The prevalence of FLV was 1.02% (95% confidence interval: 0.98-1.06). The mean age was 44.45 ± 20 years. One hundred and forty two (59%) were above 40 years old and 60.5% were unemployed. Major causes of FLV were glaucoma (31%), age-related macular degeneration (24%) and retinitis pigmentosa (12%). Prescription needs were magnifiers (29%), non-optical (23%) low vision aids, telescopes (17%), multiple aids (15%) and visual rehabilitation (28%). The uptake of LVRs was 67%. The most common barriers to LVR uptake were the cost of the device (97%), lack of family support (90%) and hesitancy using the device (84%). FLV was caused by progressively worsening diseases like glaucoma. The major patient barrier to assessing a multidisciplinary LVR service was financial constraint.

Controlling the tissue temperature rise during retinal laser therapy is essential for predictable outcomes, especially at non-damaging settings. We demonstrate a method for determining the temperature rise in the retina using phase-resolved optical coherence tomography (pOCT) in vivo. Measurements based on the thermally induced optical path length changes (ΔOPL) in the retina during a 10-ms laser pulse allow detection of the temperature rise with a precision less than 1 °C, which is sufficient for calibration of the laser power for patient-specific non-damaging therapy. We observed a significant difference in confinement of the retinal deformations between the normal and the degenerate retina: in wild-type rats, thermal deformations are localized between the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the photoreceptors’ inner segments (IS), as opposed to a deep penetration of the deformations into the inner retinal layers in the degenerate retina. This implies the presence of a structural component within healthy photoreceptors that dampens the tissue expansion induced by the laser heating of the RPE and pigmented choroid. We hypothesize that the thin and soft cilium connecting the inner and outer segments (IS, OS) of photoreceptors may absorb the deformations of the OS and thereby preclude the tissue expansion further inward. Striking difference in the confinement of the retinal deformations induced by a laser pulse in healthy and degenerate retina may be used as a biomechanical diagnostic tool for the characterization of photoreceptor degeneration.

Background: There has been ongoing concern that prolonged use of headphones/earphones that amplify the sound intensity can lead to noise induced hearing loss. This study therefore aimed at determining the correlation between hearing thresholds and habitual usage of headphones/earphones among undergraduates of tertiary institutions in Northwestern Nigeria.
 Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on young adults, who are undergraduate students of tertiary institutions, to assess the hearing thresholds of individuals who frequently use headphones or earphones. Ethical clearance was obtained, and participants who met specific criteria were selected. Amultistage sampling technique was used, and 272 participants (representing 544 ears) with equal number of controls were recruited. They completed questionnaires and underwent otoscopic examination and pure tone audiometry (PTA). Those having wax or foreign bodies in the ears had it removed before performing PTA. The data was recorded and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Frequency tables and variable relationships were examined to determine significance, which was set at a p-value of <0.05.
 Result: The study involved 272 users of headphones/earphones (representing 544 ears) and an equal number of age- and sex-matched controls. The participants' ages ranged between 18 and 33, with 50.4% being male. The pure tone average among the headphones/earphones users and the controls ranged from 11.0 – 43.8dB, with a mean of 20.2±6.0 and 10.6 – 43.2dB, with a mean of 19.6 ± 4.5, respectively. More than half, 280/544 ears (51.5%) of the participants used headphones/earphones for over 4 years, and of these, 222/280 ears (79.3%) used them for 1 – 4 hours daily. Moderate volume was the preferred listening mode for 63.2% of the users. A moderate positive correlation was observed between hearing thresholds and hours of headphone/earphone use, and a weak positive correlation between hearing thresholds and preferred level of loudness (r = 0.290, p < 0.0001) while no correlation was found between hearing threshold and long-term use (r = 0.003, p = 0.937).
 Conclusion: This study suggests that individuals who use headphones or earphones for prolonged periods of listening hours daily or at higher listening levels tend to have poorer hearing thresholds.

Herpes viridae is an infective family of virus that is common worldwide.An additional 100 herpes viruses have been categorized, but humans may be affected by only 8 which are Herpes simplex virus (HSV) and varicella-zoster virus (VZV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpes virus [1].This wide spectrum of viruses can cause various ocular diseases with clinical presentations of keratoconjunctivitis, dendritic epithelial keratitis Blepharitis, geographic or trophic herpetic corneal ulceration, stromal keratitis, and intraocular inflammation.Two major entities may comprise ocular inflammation, anterior uveitis with or second with active corneal involvement as epithelial keratitis or interstitial keratitis and viral retinopathy, which were seen in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients.An estimated 90% of intra-ocular inflammation is associated with anterior uveitis and 5 % to 10% of the case of uveitis has chances of herpetic anterior uveitis that is either due to herpes simplex or varicella zoster virus infection [2-4].It is the common cause of anterior infectious uveitis.This case outlined an overview of post-herpetic anterior uveitis and its occurrence in HerpesZoster and the effectiveness of medical therapy.

ObjectiveSelf-refracting spectacles (SRSs) have different optical and mechanical designs, which may affect the refractive outcome, depending on the experience of the end user. This study compared the performance of two SRS among children in Ghana.Methods and analysisA cross-sectional study of two Alvarez variable-focus SRS designs was conducted. A total of 167 children (mean age 13.6±1.6 years) identified as having refractive error were recruited from 2465 students who underwent screening. Subjects completed self-refraction using FocusSpecs, and Adlens, autorefraction and cycloplegic subjective refraction (CSR) (gold standard). Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare visual outcomes and accuracy of refraction and graphically illustrated using Bland-Altman plots.ResultsEighty (47.9%) urban and 87 (52.1%) rural children were analysed and only about one-quarter 40 (24.0%) wore spectacles. The proportion who achieved visual acuity of ≥6/7.5 with FocusSpec, Adlens, autorefraction and CSR among urban schools were 92.6%, 92.4%, 60% and 92.6%, while those in rural schools were 81.6%, 86.2%, 54.0% and 95.4%, respectively. The mean±SD spherical equivalent errors for urban and rural schools using FocusSpec, Adlens and CSR were −1.05±0.61 D, –0.97±0.58 D and −0.78±0.53 D; and −0.47±0.51 D, –0.55±0.43 D and −0.27±0.11 D, respectively. The mean differences between the two self-refraction spectacles for urban and rural schools were not statistically different (p>0.00) but differed significantly when both were compared with the gold standard (CSR) (p<0.05).ConclusionBackground and refraction experience of school children did not significantly affect self-refraction.

Aims: To determine the perception and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination among patients in a tertiary eye hospital.&#x0D; Study Design: A cross-sectional hospital-based study.&#x0D; Place and Duration of Study: Guinness Eye Centre Onitsha, South-East Nigeria between 1st to 29th June 2021&#x0D; Methodology: An interviewer-administered semi-structured pretested questionnaire on sociodemographic, knowledge, perception and acceptance on coronavirus disease and its vaccine was used to collect data on eligible patients. Data obtained was analyzed with SPSS version 23 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA). Descriptive statistics including frequency tables, mean and standard deviation was used to present categorical variables.&#x0D; Results: A total of 386 patients were interviewed comprising 157 (40.7%) males and 229(59.3%) females, and aged 18 to 93 years (mean age of 44.73±18.49 years). Two hundred and fifty-eight (66.8%) patients knew of COVID-19 vaccine availability in Nigeria, with 90 (34.9%) not knowing where they could obtain the vaccine. Only 34 (8.8%) had taken the vaccine. Uptake of COVID-19 vaccine is strongly associated with patient’s perception of COVID-19 being real (P=0.006), patients trust in the information head about the vaccine (P=0.001), and their trust on the efficacy and safety of the COVID-19 vaccine (P˂0.001). Acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine is not significantly associated with their faith in the previous human vaccinations(P=0.076).&#x0D; Conclusion: The uptake of COVID-19 vaccine in the study group is low. Therefore, there is an urgent need for re-strategizing on various ways to enlighten the public and widen the scope of information dissemination.

Context: Endoscopic sinus surgery is a minimally invasive and currently the treatment of choice for acute/intermittent and chronic/persistent rhinosinusitis (RS) unresponsive to conservative medical treatment. Aims: To evaluate the indications and outcomes of treatment of RS with or without nasal polyps. Methods and Material: This was a retrospective review of all cases of endoscopic sinus surgery done at the National Ear Care Centre. The information extracted from the case notes of patients included the demographic profile, clinical radiologic and endoscopic findings, the surgery offered and outcome of surgery. Statistical analysis used: All information was entered into SPSS version 20.0. Results: Out of 116 patients had endoscopic sinus surgery, only 107 (92%) had complete information for the analysis. Their age ranged from 9 to 72 years with a mean age of 35.9 ± 1.9 years. Up to 105 of the patients presented nasal discharge alternating with nasal obstruction while 65% (70) of them had bilateral disease. Computed tomography scan revealed abnormalities in 66.4% (71) patients. The preoperative diagnosis of chronic RS (CRS) with simple nasal polyp was made in 66 patients, had functional endoscopic sinus surgery with polypectomy in 64.5% (69) patients and intraoperative findings revealed a mixture of mucosal diseases with sinonasal polyps in 73.8% and fungal sinus diseases in 18 (16.8). Majority of the patients (53.3%) were discharged home on the 2nd postoperative day. About 71% of the patients had resolution of their disease after months of followup. Conclusion: Endoscopic sinus surgery is higher among young adult in third and fourth decades of life. There is female preponderance and preoperative radiology assessment and the intraoperative findings revealed strong relationship. The outcome of treatment revealed recurrent disease in 10.5% with nasal adhesion, epistaxis and excessive nasal crust formation.