Refractive amblyopia among children aged 4–12 years in a hospital-based setting in Gaza Strip, Palestine

Background: Refractive amblyopia is the most common cause of amblyopia in the Gaza Strip. However, the pattern of this condition has not yet been studied in this region. This study aimed to determine the pattern of refractive amblyopia in Gazan children aged 4?12 years.Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study using a purposive sampling method. Children aged 4?12 years who attended the Children’s Unit at Gaza Ophthalmic Hospital, Gaza Strip, Palestine from September 2019 to July 2020, were examined. A comprehensive eye test was conducted for all participants. Those who failed the eye examinations and were diagnosed with refractive amblyopia were included in the study. Demographic data and amblyopic refractive error patterns were analyzed accordingly.Results: Of the 107 children, 72.9% were newly diagnosed with refractive amblyopia. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) of age of the children who participated was 7.85 ± 1.55 years. Approximately two-thirds of the patients were female (57.9%). Unilateral amblyopia was predominant in 60.7% of the cases. Moderate amblyopia was common (81.9%). A total of 149 amblyopic eyes were examined in total, with a mean ± SD (range) of best-corrected distance visual acuity and spherical equivalent of 0.45 ± 0.19 (0.2 to 1.3) logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution and + 0.76 ± 4.51 diopters (- 10.25 to + 11.50). Astigmatism was the most common amblyogenic factor (53.7%) among children with amblyopia.Conclusions: The frequency of refractive amblyopia was 72.9%, and meridional amblyopia accounted for the highest percentage. Girls were more commonly affected than boys. The majority were in the 7-year-old age group. Most cases were unilateral with moderate refractive amblyopia. Our study yields insights into the patterns of refractive amblyopia among children in the Gaza Strip.

John Zachariah Laurence: ‘forgotten luminary’

John Zachariah Laurence was one of the four medical staff appointed in 1860 to the new “Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic,” at 24 Queen Square, London. A prize-winning graduate of UCH he was known for his high intellect and skills in general surgery and in ophthalmology. After a brief period at Queen Square he left to found the South London Ophthalmic Hospital that became the Royal Eye Hospital, and the “Ophthalmic Review”, the first British journal of ophthalmology; he later served at Barts. Highly accomplished in the arts, literature and research his achievements were sadly neglected by his contemporaries.

A Case Series of “Solitary Idiopathic Choroiditis” and Proposal of a Nomenclature Change to “Idiopathic Scleroma”

<b><i>Objective:</i></b> To define the characteristics of solitary idiopathic choroiditis (SIC) in a consecutive series of patients and propose a nomenclature change to idiopathic scleroma. <b><i>Materials and Methods:</i></b> Electronic patient records were retrospectively interrogated to identify all patients diagnosed with SIC between 2002 and 2019 in a tertiary referral ophthalmic hospital in the United Kingdom. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Thirty-four eyes of 34 patients were found to have SIC. The mean age at diagnosis was 48 years (range 24–78) and 23 patients (68%) were female. All lesions were located posterior to the equator, most frequently in the inferotemporal quadrant (13 eyes, 38%). The lesions had a mean largest basal diameter of 1.2 ± 0.4 disc diameters (range 0.5–2) and their distance to the optic disc had a mean of 1.2 ± 0.9 disc diameters (range 0–3.3). All lesions were intrascleral on enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography, demonstrating a hypo-reflective zone within the sclera, with an underlying hyper-reflective zone in some cases. No lesion enlarged or developed features consistent with active inflammation after a median follow-up time of 0.9 years (range 0–16.8). <b><i>Discussion/Conclusion:</i></b> Optical coherence tomography shows SIC to be an intrascleral lesion. Furthermore, we found no evidence of any inflammatory component. A nomenclature change to idiopathic scleroma is appropriate to prevent unnecessary investigation.

Quality of Life among Patients with Glaucoma in Gaza Governorates

Background: Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Quality of Life (QOL) has emerged as an important parameter for assessing the quality of health care of patients with Glaucoma disease. This study assessed QOL among Glaucoma patients in Gaza Governorates and the factors influencing their life conditions. Methods: This is a descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study included 265 eligible glaucoma patients from Al Nasser Ophthalmic Hospital and European Gaza Hospital. Socio-demographic and disease-related characteristics in addition to QOL data were collected using the Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 (GQL-15) and Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaires. Results: Study participants had a medium level of QOL scores. The mean score for GQL-15 was 59.2 ± 17.6. The greatest difficulty was in activities involving glare and dark adaptation (48.5±18.0), while least difficulty for outdoor mobility (66.6±25.4). The overall mean percentage of SF-36 domain scores was 61.7±13.5. The bodily pain domain got the highest score (79.4); the social function domain was (72.22); and the lowest domain was General Health (48.58). Findings also showed that participants without ocular diseases and comorbidities had better QOL. Moreover, patients with higher educational level, higher income and disease duration less than 5 years had better QOL scores. Conclusion: Glaucoma has moderately negative effects on people’s ability to function independently in every field of their lives. Glaucoma patients should be educated to understand the prognosis of the disease and importance of the adherence to the daily treatment to improve their QOL.

Elsayed A Usage and Knowledge of the Over- the- Counter Medicines Among Patient Visiting Ophthalmic Hospital in Wad Medani, Sudan

Objective The aim of this work is to determine the usage pattern and knowledge of OTC medicines among Sudanese attending Ophthalmic hospital in Wad-Medani/Sudan. Methods It is a cross-sectional study in which 500 patients were surveyed. Results Participants had taken OTC medicines to treat headache, pain, allergy, heart pain, etc. General knowledge of participants is poor. Majority of respondents admitted having no knowledge about the active ingredient, the maximum dose or side effects of paracetamol. One-third of respondents had taken a dose lower or higher than the recommended one. The main reason of taking larger dose was the intensive pain. More than a half (59.0%) of respondent reported using more than one OTC medications when they had multiple symptoms. The results showed that knowledge is associated with the level of education. Regarding the sources of information, two third of respondents (68.8) get information about the non-prescription medicine from the pharmacist. Only 10.4% read information about the OTC medicines from the leaflet in the package. Conclusions In Sudan, pharmacists play major role in OTC medication safety as the illiteracy comprises high percentage.