Ophthalmic Presentations in Leprosy Patients in (South-Eastern) Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: To determine the magnitude and pattern of ocular disorders and blindness among leprosy patients, presenting at three leprosy clinics in South —Eastern Nigeria. Methodology: All the in- patients, as well as the out- patients that presented to the 3 leprosy clinics during the 2- month period of the study were examined. Altogether, 171 patients were studied. All data were entered into the computer and analyzed using the SPSS software package. Results: Ocular examinations revealed that 60.2% of the patients had leprotic lesions. Other findings were cataract 24.6%; pterygium 24.6%; refractive errors 21.6%; glaucoma 12.3%; age- related macular degeneration 4.6%; presumed toxoplasmosis 1.2%; optic atrophy 1.2% and squint 0.6%.A total of 10.5% of patients were blind and 39.8% visually impaired. Cataract accounted for 55.6% blindness. Conclusion: It is concluded that non- leprotic lesions, particularly cataract were responsible for most of the blindness. We recommend that ophthalmic surgeons should organize regular and periodic surgical outreaches to leprosy centers with the aim of dealing with non- leprotic causes of avoidable blindness in such centres. Key Words: Leprosy, Leprotic eye lesions, non-leprotic eye lesions, surgical outreaches. Orient Journal of Medicine Vol.16(3&4) 2004: 18-24