Cataract surgical coverage and barriers to uptake of cataract surgery in leprosy villages of north eastern Nigeria.

AIMS: To determine the coverage, outcome, and barriers to uptake of cataract surgery in leprosy villages of north eastern Nigeria. METHODS: People 30 years and above resident in eight leprosy villages were examined. Cataract blind people were questioned about the reasons they had not been treated. Subjects who had received an operation for cataract were examined to determine the outcome and, where applicable, the causes of poor outcome. RESULTS: 480 people were examined. Cataract was the commonest cause of blindness. The cataract surgical coverage (people) was 39.2% for orthodox surgery and 29.7% for couching. After surgery, visual acuity > or =3/60 had been restored to 82.1% of eyes that had had orthodox surgery, but only 58.6% of eyes that had been couched. Cost was the commonest reason given for not seeking treatment for cataract. CONCLUSIONS: Cataract is the major cause of blindness in this population but cataract surgical needs are currently not being met. There is a need for better collaboration between leprosy control and ophthalmic services, improved education of people affected by leprosy, a commitment to improving orthodox cataract surgery outcomes, and consideration of a possible role for traditional healers as sources of referral for orthodox surgical services.

Cataract in leprosy patients: cataract surgical coverage, barriers to acceptance of surgery, and outcome of surgery in a population based survey in Korea.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in leprosy patients. There is no population based information on the cataract surgical coverage, barriers to use of surgical services, and outcome of surgery in these patients. We sought to determine these measures of cataract programme effectiveness in a cured leprosy population in South Korea. METHODS: The population consisted of residents of six leprosy resettlement villages in central South Korea. All residents were invited to participate in a study of eye disease and interviewed regarding use of surgical services and reasons for not using these services. RESULTS: The cataract surgical coverage in this population was 55.4% when <6/18 was used as the cut off and increased to 78.3% when the cut off was <6/60. Barriers reported by patients included being told by the doctor that the cataract was not mature and a perception by the patient that there was no need for surgery. Among patients who had aphakic surgery, 71% were still blind in the operative eye while among patients who had pseudophakic surgery, 14% were still blind (presenting vision). Blindness in pseudophakic patients could be reduced to 3% with spectacle correction. CONCLUSION: Cataract prevalence in leprosy patients will increase as life expectancy continues to increase. Leprosy control programmes will need to develop activities aimed at reducing the burden of cataract. Recommendations include establishing collaborative agreements with ophthalmological services to provide high quality IOL surgery to these patients, training of health staff to identify and refer patients in need of surgery, monitoring the uptake of cataract surgery among patients needing services, and monitoring the outcome of surgery to improve refractive outcome.

Cataract surgery in a leprosy population in Liberia.

In Liberia, 43 eyes of 30 patients with ocular leprosy underwent cataract extraction; 33 eyes had extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) and 10 eyes had intracapsular cataract extraction (ICCE). ICCE was performed in eyes with poor visualization of the anterior chamber. In 95% of the eyes, the postoperative vision improved by 2 Snellen lines or more, but functional visual acuity (better than 20/200) was achieved in only 65% (82% post-ECCE and 10% post-ICCE). Fewer postoperative complications were observed after ECCE. These findings may have been related to less ocular involvement by leprosy preoperatively. ECCE should be attempted when the visualization of the anterior chamber is fair.