Congenital ocular deformities-leading cause of childhood blindness-A clinical profile study

Abstract

Background: Congenital eye disorders, though rare, are important causes of childhood blindness. It can occur in isolation or in combination, or as part of a syndrome. This retrospective study was aimed at documenting the causes of congenital eye diseases in a rural medical college of north India. Method: A review of the case notes of patients presenting at the eye clinic with congenital eye diseases between January 2011 and December 2014 was carried out. Result: The common congenital disorders were cataract 38 (19%), congenital glaucoma 6 (3%), and corneal opacity 10 (5%) congenital strabismus 7 (3.5%), which are causes of preventable blindness. Other disorders were congenital disorders with autosomal recessive inheritance like, diseases of retina Retinitis Pigmentosa 34 (17%) and developmental anamolies like anophthalmos, microphthalmos, coloboma, aniridia, ectopia lentis seen in 46 (23%) which are congenital causes of irreversible childhood blindness. Conclusion: Congenital anomalies are found to be the common cause of blindness in childhood. The majority of the cases were due to avoidable causes of blindness. It is necessary to identify important avoidable causes of severe visual impairment and blindness in order to develop control programs to prevent childhood blindness in the country. Keywords: Congenital Ocular Anomalies, Childhood Blindness